Re optical out, DD 5.1 and HDMI. I use an HDMI cable and mostly just listen using the tv speakers. But I have an optical link to my receiver that I use sometimes when playing a movie recorded on the 6412 (Phase III). I have noticed that the Dobly light does not go on like it used to, but my receiver does show, sometimes, that it is sending sound to all 5 speakers plus the subwoofer, and I can hear that this is happening. Other times the sound is simply in stereo. Since I don't use this much, I haven't paid close attention; maybe my receiver is synthesizing the back channel signals? It doesn't seem so, since there are times when (I think) the sound is coming from a specific rear speaker. I recall this was quite noticeable on a Monday Night Football game a couple of months ago, but that may have been before I turned in my balky old 6412 for the Phase III box.

In any case, I do get sound out over the optical link while using HDMI to watch tv. Previous posts suggested that use of the HDMI output somehow disabled the optical or coax audio outputs.

On a slightly different topic - why would anyone (other than an advertiser) want to disable the 30 second skip feature? Seems pretty user-hostile if this is a side-effect of the 12.22 update.

I have noticed that the Dobly light does not go on like it used to, but my receiver does show, sometimes, that it is sending sound to all 5 speakers plus the subwoofer, and I can hear that this is happening. Other times the sound is simply in stereo.
In any case, I do get sound out over the optical link while using HDMI to watch tv. Previous posts suggested that use of the HDMI output somehow disabled the optical or coax audio outputs.



to clarify, when you use the hdmi output, coax and optical work, you just won't get your 5.1, only pcm (which if you don't set your receiver to pcm, you'll only hear stereo).

On a slightly different topic - why would anyone (other than an advertiser) want to disable the 30 second skip feature? Seems pretty user-hostile if this is a side-effect of the 12.22 update.

i could see how a cableco would disable it. say the drop in advertising dollars are strong enough to force networks to raise fees charged to cable cos. cable cos, who rather not lose subs, decide to force subs to watch commercials by disabling the 30 second skip.

that said, comcast seems oblivious because they push VOD, which inherently is not advertiser friendly.

to clarify, when you use the hdmi output, coax and optical work, you just won't get your 5.1, only pcm (which if you don't set your receiver to pcm, you'll only hear stereo).

My receiver automatically diagnoses whatever comes over the optical links (it has two, one is hooked up to the 6412, the other to a dvd player). The receiver picks whatever format is best; I suppose it is using PCM for the cable box audio. I do know that the receiver's nice blue light that comes on when a Dolby 5.1 or DTS dvd is played no longer comes on as it did in the past when I feed the receiver via the optical output of the 6412.

The good thing about Costco is that they have their indefinite "no questions asked" retrun policy. I had a co-worker who bought a Plasma there and then 6 months later decided he wanted a larger DLP. He brought it back they happily exchanged it for a new TV.

Thanks, my Dad apparently couln't wait and bought a Toshiba 62 HM195 from an online etailer.

He has Dish, but wants to switch to Directv. Has D* gone to mpeg4 in San Jose area?

Scott

Thanks, my Dad apparently couln't wait and bought a Toshiba 62 HM195 from an online etailer.

He has Dish, but wants to switch to Directv. Has D* gone to mpeg4 in San Jose area?

Scott

Yes they have, for the locals.

Thanks Bobby C.

Scott

Regarding the sluggish 6412 response to remote commands (key queueing), I agree that a once per week reboot (unplug from power) is called for. I've started doing that and it works much better.

Best,
jeff

Comcast launches TNT in HD in Washington....
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060120/sff039.html?.v=32

Any word on CA/Bay Area?

Comcast launches TNT in HD in Washington....
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060120/sff039.html?.v=32

Any word on CA/Bay Area?

this can't be but good news, perhaps deeper west coast penetration?? please please please please...

Comcast launches TNT in HD in Washington....
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060120/sff039.html?.v=32

Any word on CA/Bay Area?

Don't expect anyone to let you know ahead of time -- that's not Comcastic. I noticed a new Seattle QAM user posting an offhand comment about finding it Wednesday, then an apparent test mapping to an unused channel appeared briefly that night. Your posting is the first "official" notification I've seen.

Hi, I just got a cable-ready HDTV (sharp aquos) and kinda newbie here.
From the postings here, you guys are getting unencrypted HD channels (NBC, ABC, etc.) from your basic analog cable line without even a cable card as long as your TV has a digital tuner. Is that correct? Does Comcast actually put those signals into their analog cable line? My TV has a QAM tuner, so I tried to scan the digital channels but got nothing. I have standard (basic+extend) analog cable service and connect the coax cable to the analog RF connector back of my TV but it could find none of the HD stations (it did find all the analog signals though). The TV has two additional digital RF connectors: one for digital cable; one for digital air. should I use one of the digital ones? Or does it depend on where I live? I'm in Vallejo and I saw couple of postings on people getting HD signals in Vallejo. Should I buy an OTA HD antenna or call Comcast for a cable card to get those HD broadcastings (the unencrypted ones)? Or did I do something wrong?
Thanks in advance~

Hi, I just got a cable-ready HDTV (sharp aquos) and kinda newbie here.
From the postings here, you guys are getting unencrypted HD channels (NBC, ABC, etc.) from your basic analog cable line without even a cable card as long as your TV has a digital tuner. Is that correct? Does Comcast actually put those signals into their analog cable line? My TV has a QAM tuner, so I tried to scan the digital channels but got nothing. I have standard (basic+extend) analog cable service and connect the coax cable to the analog RF connector back of my TV but it could find none of the HD stations (it did find all the analog signals though). The TV has two additional digital RF connectors: one for digital cable; one for digital air. should I use one of the digital ones? Or does it depend on where I live? I'm in Vallejo and I saw couple of postings on people getting HD signals in Vallejo. Should I buy an OTA HD antenna or call Comcast for a cable card to get those HD broadcastings (the unencrypted ones)? Or did I do something wrong?
Thanks in advance~
You should also plug in the "digital cable" plug. Just get a splitter and split your cable between the analog plug and the digital cable plug. Do another channel scan and you should find the digital channels. You won't need the digital air plugged in unless you decide to use an antenna.

You should also plug in the "digital cable" plug. Just get a splitter and split your cable between the analog plug and the digital cable plug. Do another channel scan and you should find the digital channels. You won't need the digital air plugged in unless you decide to use an antenna.

Wow! It worked! Thanks a lot~

Don't expect anyone to let you know ahead of time -- that's not Comcastic. I noticed a new Seattle QAM user posting an offhand comment about finding it Wednesday, then an apparent test mapping to an unused channel appeared briefly that night. Your posting is the first "official" notification I've seen.

Wareagle... That's hilarious! I got a good laugh from your "that's not Comcastic" comment with deadpan delivery.... Thanks for a great start to my day!

Best,
jeff

It was pretty funny, and sooooo accurate as well.

It's actually coming up on a year in March isn't it since Comcast got TNT-HD in the first place? My investment in Dish is already paying off with NASCAR, NBA, The Closer and Wanted, all in 1920x1080i HD. My only regret is not getting it in time to see Into The West in HD.

anyone else getting very choppy coverage of the AFC game? it will freeze during the game momentarily, but not during commercials...

No. both games looked great.

on another topic. Anyone notice that "cops" looks to be in HD now (at least its broadcast in WS, no pillarbars). Maybe shot with SD camera, but the upconvert looks fantastic and the sound is DD5.1.

Best,
jeff

Anyone getting static during Vegas on NBC tonight in the rear surrounds? These channels seemed much louder than normal and really bad. It was happening also during Medium.

jeff

Yes, I noticed the audio problems starting last Friday with TBoD and they have continued with every HD broadcast I've watched from KNTV through tonight(Surface and Medium). The audio from the KNBC-HD/LA was fine. Someone is not minding the store at KNTV.

Did anyone have the center channel on CBS: CSI Miami either buzz out, or totally disapear last night?

Somebody got a number for KNTV engineering? However on the Surface and Daniel threads in the HDTV Programming topic people from some other areas seemed to have the problem too. Very unprofessional of NBC.

Surface last night had way too much background noise (and static) and I was worrying that perhaps my JVC receiver was going bad. Thanks to the above notes, it was Comcast and not on my end. Sheesh it was bad.................

I think I read this somewhere in this thread but can not find it now. Does Comcast transmit 5.1 on the unscrabled HD channels? I would like to use the internal QAM reciever and output the audio to a HT.

I think I read this somewhere in this thread but can not find it now. Does Comcast transmit 5.1 on the unscrabled HD channels? I would like to use the internal QAM reciever and output the audio to a HT.
Yes. If the station is sending 5.1, then you will have it at the internal QAM tuner.

Hey Comcast..where's KBHK-HD...? No more WB or UPN in the fall so all we need is KBHK to get the WB and and UPN HD programming.

Hey Comcast..where's KBHK-HD...? No more WB or UPN in the fall so all we need is KBHK to get the WB and and UPN HD programming.
Plus one of those channels disappearing leaves room for 2 HD channels (even on 550MHz systems) using QAM256 (I think you were implying that also)

Yes, my communication skills are lacking today.. :)

News Corp and Sinclair owned WB and UPN stations took it in the shorts today after the announcement of The CW Network.

Surface last night had way too much background noise (and static) and I was worrying that perhaps my JVC receiver was going bad. Thanks to the above notes, it was Comcast and not on my end. Sheesh it was bad.................
Unwatchable. Actaully, unlistenable-- the video was fine. I had to switch to SD to understand the dialogue.

Does anyone know when C* will start simulcasting and or drop analog completely? I am in 95124 san jose and was hopeing it would be soon as channel like Scfi are not very nice to watch.

I am in 95124 san jose and was hopeing it would be soon as channel like Scfi are not very nice to watch.
SciFi is digital in my area and it doesn't look too hot either. low bit rate, reduced resolution. For channels like that, I actually prefer the analog channels, there is more noise, but the picture has more resolution and looks sharper. It'll depend on your display and analog signal quality of course and some may feel the opposite.

Does anyone know when C* will start simulcasting and or drop analog completely? I am in 95124 san jose and was hopeing it would be soon as channel like Scfi are not very nice to watch.

Sci-Fi channel is already digital, at least in Rohnert Park. It still isn't all that pretty.

No, SciFi is pretty ugly, even on digital, it looks as if they are giving it barely enough bandwidth to keep a stable image. Many times it looks like vaseline has been smeared on the screen, with macroblocking galore.

I use Dish or DirecTV for SciFi scaled and processed through a VP and it looks pretty darn good, especially the letterboxed stuff.

I have read elsewhere here that lowering the contrast on your display might help with SciFi as apparently they jack up the contrast when the signal is sent. This came from a creator of one of the shows on SciFi, I don't rcall which one it was.

An FYI, ESPN finally went DD 5.1 a day or so ago.

Last night while watching a "catch-up" recording of Boston Legal (6412 Phase III STB), I noticed that several parts of the recorded show had pixelation and "freezes" but as I neared the end, my recording hung badly to the point where I could not progress beyond a bad portion.

I started trying lots of different things (going to live, restarting the entire recording and fast forwarding to get beyond the bad part, etc., all to no avail) when suddenly my box seemed to reboot itself and then came back on. At that point it wouldn't seem to respond to any remote commands, and to make a long story short, I discovered that not only had all recorded material disappeared, but all guide info and scheduled shows had gone pfft!

This morning (10 hours later) there still is no guide info displayed....My question is, which of the many types of resets discussed on this forum is necessary to unscramble this thing, or do I just need to bring it in for replacement?? (Guess I've been lucky so far and have had no problems with my two phase III boxes...but everyone's luck runs out eventually...!)

Last night while watching a "catch-up" recording of Boston Legal (6412 Phase III STB), I noticed that several parts of the recorded show had pixelation and "freezes" but as I neared the end, my recording hung badly to the point where I could not progress beyond a bad portion.

I started trying lots of different things (going to live, restarting the entire recording and fast forwarding to get beyond the bad part, etc., all to no avail) when suddenly my box seemed to reboot itself and then came back on. At that point it wouldn't seem to respond to any remote commands, and to make a long story short, I discovered that not only had all recorded material disappeared, but all guide info and scheduled shows had gone pfft!

This morning (10 hours later) there still is no guide info displayed....My question is, which of the many types of resets discussed on this forum is necessary to unscramble this thing, or do I just need to bring it in for replacement?? (Guess I've been lucky so far and have had no problems with my two phase III boxes...but everyone's luck runs out eventually...!)

First thing I would do is power-cycle the unit. Unplug the power cable from the back, wait 10 seconds, and then plug it back in. If the guide info doesn't begin to populate in the next hour or so, call Comcast and have them send a hit to your box (I think you can do this automatically -- i.e. without talking to a service rep). If that still doesn't work, exchange it for a new one.

Last night while watching a "catch-up" recording of Boston Legal (6412 Phase III STB), I noticed that several parts of the recorded show had pixelation and "freezes" but as I neared the end, my recording hung badly to the point where I could not progress beyond a bad portion.


I have been having the pixelation and audio dropouts for days now, NCIS, CiC and Boston Legal were unwatchable due to the problems. I have been trying to figure out if it's at my end or the signal is being sent that way. I ended up watching all 3 shows from LA on my HD-TiVo and all 3 were perfect so I don't believe it's a network problem. It's starting to drive me nuts, some nights everything is fine, and then others, like last night, everything I watched was screwed up.

All my signal numbers are good and there have been no errors recorded so I tend to think it is from Comcast/the stations

Anyone else having these problems?


murraymcleod try this,

DVR Hard Drive reset of the DCT-- 6208, 64xx & 34xx STB

NOTE *** This will delete all stored shows on the Hard Drive!
This will also delete all Guide Data & Any type of scheduled recording
settings!

1. STB should be turned on
2. Press Cable, Power off, ok/Select, to bring up the Diagnostics Page
3. With diagnostics page showing press Replay (15-sec rewind), My DVR,
My DVR, My DVR, Live.
4. Your STB should now show "Clr" in the LED display.
5. Press ok/Select to proceed with the reset (and presumably Exit to
cancel).
6. The STB should now reformat the HD & then reboot and begin to
download the Guide data from the Local headend...

...to make a long story short, I discovered that not only had all recorded material disappeared, but all guide info and scheduled shows had gone pfft!
This morning (10 hours later) there still is no guide info displayed....

It looks like a miracle has occured! After discovering that no guide info had downloaded overnight I turned off the STB this morning to see if that would help (as I usually leave it on always). Just checking it now I see that not only has the guide info returned, but so have my recorded shows and scheduled recordings (nothing appears to have been lost!).

Is it safe to try to watch the last portion of Boston Legal (which seemed to cause the problem...?), or am I better off just to delete that recording??

Is it safe to try to watch the last portion of Boston Legal (which seemed to cause the problem...?), or am I better off just to delete that recording??
My gut feeling is that you would be better off just deleting it. :(
I ended up watching it on the analog channel.
Brian in Santa Rosa

My gut feeling is that you would be better off just deleting it. :(
I ended up watching it on the analog channel.
Brian in Santa Rosa
Did you watch either NCIS or CiC? Were they screwed up for you as well?

ncis was perfect last night (like usual) on 705, but I didn't record it.

jeff

My gut feeling is that you would be better off just deleting it. :(
I ended up watching it on the analog channel.
Brian in Santa Rosa


How did Boston Legal end?!

(I can't comment on the other shows, Keenan, as I didn't watch or record them....)

I live in the San Lorenzo/Hayward area and last night I noticed that Comcast added around eight new channels to our 550 Mhz system. After eagerly clicking through the new offerings I realized that they added a Spanish language tier. I love that they finally did this, but I was disappointed that none of the new updates were for HD. We still don’t have the full HD offerings other systems enjoy like InHD 1&2, Showtime HD, NFL Network in HD among others.

Beyond that we still don’t have Channel 1 for In Demand or standard channels like Travel Channel (for poker), MTV2 among others.

Any other systems get new updates/channels?

Anybody else in Cupertino loose FOX-HD (702/2.1) and CBS-HD (705/5.1)? They have been OTA at my house in Cupertino for the last two evenings. They share channel 79 on our headend.

Forgot to add that I am using my Sony's QAM tuner, without cable card. Did Comcast suddenly decide to encrypt channels 2.1 and 5.1?

I live in the San Lorenzo/Hayward area and last night I noticed that Comcast added around eight new channels to our 550 Mhz system. After eagerly clicking through the new offerings I realized that they added a Spanish language tier. I love that they finally did this, but I was disappointed that none of the new updates were for HD. We still don’t have the full HD offerings other systems enjoy like InHD 1&2, Showtime HD, NFL Network in HD among others.

Beyond that we still don’t have Channel 1 for In Demand or standard channels like Travel Channel (for poker), MTV2 among others.

Any other systems get new updates/channels?
No additions in Santa Rosa, same old crap we've had for years.

It appears Comcast is now testing Analog Digital Simulcast.

(ordering of channels is always changing around, so don't depend on these)
Mhz cbl qam
735 2 114.1 KTVU FOX
735 4 114.2 KRON KRON
735 5 114.3 KPIX CBS
735 7 114.4 KGO ABC
735 9 114.5 KQED PBS
735 14 114.6 KDTV UNIVISION
735 13 114.7 KBWB WB
735 8 114.9 KTSF KTSF
735 19 114.9 KTNC KTNC
735 12 114.10 KBHK UPN

There's a ton of pixelation and stutters right now. PQ appears to be comparable to good clean analog, but with less noise. Colors are slightly more vibrant. If you have a good clean analog signal I wouldn't say there is a massive improvement, but it is noticeable, but if you have a crappy analog signal, you should be quite happy. Don't be too upset, they could have done a lot worse and given you SciFi channel quality.

I checked the mpg stream using MyHD and they are sending 704x480i. That is much better pixel resolution than quite a few digital cable channels which are mostly 528x480i. Basically it is comparable to KGO-SD but not quite as good because it appears (as expected) they are converting the analog feed into digital, where KGO-SD is digital SD straight from KGO.

Anybody else in Cupertino loose FOX-HD (702/2.1) and CBS-HD (705/5.1)? They have been OTA at my house in Cupertino for the last two evenings. They share channel 79 on our headend.
Those two channels lost PSIP info sometime in the last few days. There are still at 79.1 and 79.2, but they won't show up as 2.1 and 5.1 anymore if you rescan. They also seem to be dropping in and out occasionally. I had them showing 1hr ago, but now there is no signal.

It appears Comcast is now testing Analog Digital Simulcast.

sigh...something else we won't have up here in Santa Rosa.....zzzzzzzzz

I received this partial tidbit from Red Dana of KQED this morning. It speaks to Comcast and ADS:

Also, HD broadcasting will be expanding starting
February 1st. For OTA viewers, KQED HD will be
signing on 3 hours earlier, and will now transmit 5pm-6am from Sutro.

For Comcast subscribers, Channel 709 will be on
24 hours a day, once your particular area has
been upgraded to total digital by Comcast.
Comcast will be rolling out this upgrade February
through April. NOTE: I don't have any idea which
areas will be upgraded when, so please don't ask.

someone please explain what ADS is... i thought most of the channels listed already was already simulcasting, like i can get FOX on channel 2 and 702. also what does ADS mean for free-ing up bandwidth and does that mean we won't be able to use the "other" tvs in our houses without a qam tuner?

someone please explain what ADS is... i thought most of the channels listed already was already simulcasting, like i can get FOX on channel 2 and 702. also what does ADS mean for free-ing up bandwidth and does that mean we won't be able to use the "other" tvs in our houses without a qam tuner?

Analog Digital Simulcast means that both the SD analog and SD digital signal of a single station are broadcasted at the same time. This is different from your 702 which is the High Defenition signal. We're only talking about Standard Definition here. A digital Standard Definition signal, in theory, means better picture quality and eventually less space on the spectrum. Channels 2 ~ 72 are all analog. Eventually, these will all be transmitted digitally. Everything above this (like the Discovery Health Channel, Discovery Times Channel, etc.) are already broadcasted digitally.

Analog Digital Simulcast means that both the SD analog and SD digital signal of a single station are broadcasted at the same time. This is different from your 702 which is the High Defenition signal. We're only talking about Standard Definition here. A digital Standard Definition signal, in theory, means better picture quality and eventually less space on the spectrum. Channels 2 ~ 72 are all analog. Eventually, these will all be transmitted digitally. Everything above this (like the Discovery Health Channel, Discovery Times Channel, etc.) are already broadcasted digitally.

ah... in my perfect world, they wouldn't even need this intermediary step and put everything into HD right away. i hope they give us all really cheap qam tuners for all our other tvs.

ah... in my perfect world, they wouldn't even need this intermediary step and put everything into HD right away. i hope they give us all really cheap qam tuners for all our other tvs.

Ah, but this is a Comtastic World. :D

I received this partial tidbit from Red Dana of KQED this morning. It speaks to Comcast and ADS:

Also, HD broadcasting will be expanding starting
February 1st. For OTA viewers, KQED HD will be
signing on 3 hours earlier, and will now transmit 5pm-6am from Sutro.

For Comcast subscribers, Channel 709 will be on
24 hours a day, once your particular area has
been upgraded to total digital by Comcast.
Comcast will be rolling out this upgrade February
through April. NOTE: I don't have any idea which
areas will be upgraded when, so please don't ask.
I saw that post this morning, thought it was pretty interesting....

...pathetic that we get info on what Comcast is doing from a third party source though....

(this is of very little interest to 550MHz systems-no room)

I have been having the pixelation and audio dropouts for days now, NCIS, CiC and Boston Legal were unwatchable due to the problems. I have been trying to figure out if it's at my end or the signal is being sent that way. I ended up watching all 3 shows from LA on my HD-TiVo and all 3 were perfect so I don't believe it's a network problem. It's starting to drive me nuts, some nights everything is fine, and then others, like last night, everything I watched was screwed up.

All my signal numbers are good and there have been no errors recorded so I tend to think it is from Comcast/the stations

Anyone else having these problems?

keenan, yes, I experienced the same sort of problems trying to watch Boston Legal on Tuesday night.

keenan, yes, I experienced the same sort of problems trying to watch Boston Legal on Tuesday night.
I had a few breakups on Lost last night...and I'm really getting tired of it...unless Comcast is trying to make room for more channels, I wish they would fix or stop whatever it is they are doing.

I'm getting tired of having to set up the same programs on both the Comcast DVR and the DirecTV TiVo just to make sure I get a good recording.

ah... in my perfect world, they wouldn't even need this intermediary step and put everything into HD right away. i hope they give us all really cheap qam tuners for all our other tvs.
Digital doesn't necessarily mean HD. In this particular case, digital != HD, it means analog SD converted to digital SD for transmission over the cable lines. This means less noise, but in terms of PQ it will depend on what bit rate and pixel resolution Comcast settles on. Currently bitrate is reasonable and pixel resolution is 704x480i so on that front it is a positive note, but it will look nowhere like 702/705/707 during primetime. It will look at best like 189/194, but currently, from what I've seen, it doesn't reach the levels of those channels because it appears the analog feed is being converted to digital SD whereas 189/194 are digital all the way from KGO and KQED. That is my opinion of the test channels I saw and it could change over time as Comcast finalizes stuff.

I had a few breakups on Lost last night...and I'm really getting tired of it...unless Comcast is trying to make room for more channels, I wish they would fix or stop whatever it is they are doing.

It's because our 550MHz systems are being upgraded.
.
.
.
.
.
At least that is my story and I'm sticking to it. ;) :D

It's because our 550MHz systems are being upgraded.
.
.
.
.
.
At least that is my story and I'm sticking to it. ;) :D
You are being Com-lusional :)

Are the digital simulcast channels encrypted? I can tune to the 114.x channels on my Sharp TV QAM but the picture is black.

Hello, I live in emeryville. What is the cheapest comcast service to get in order to watch local hdtv with tnt, espn, discovery etc, I only care about hd channels. Thanks

Hello, I live in emeryville. What is the cheapest comcast service to get in order to watch local hdtv with tnt, espn, discovery etc, I only care about hd channels. Thanks

I'm probably not the best one to answer this; but I think you have to get Digital Cable. Also, we unfortunately don't get TNT yet in HD.

Digital doesn't necessarily mean HD. In this particular case, digital != HD, it means analog SD converted to digital SD for transmission over the cable lines. This means less noise, but in terms of PQ it will depend on what bit rate and pixel resolution Comcast settles on. Currently bitrate is reasonable and pixel resolution is 704x480i so on that front it is a positive note, but it will look nowhere like 702/705/707 during primetime. It will look at best like 189/194, but currently, from what I've seen, it doesn't reach the levels of those channels because it appears the analog feed is being converted to digital SD whereas 189/194 are digital all the way from KGO and KQED. That is my opinion of the test channels I saw and it could change over time as Comcast finalizes stuff.

Still very good news that they are at least using the full rez. If they keep doing it the quality will be much better than Dish or Direct TV locals which are 480x480i. Not that I watch much non HD.

It will definitely help the better cable channels that are digital from the sat. They should look very clean and sharp.

If they do go to 528x480 expect more blunt images. The Moto boxes definitly have the worst scalers to take it back to 704x480 I have seen.

Kevin

I'm probably not the best one to answer this; but I think you have to get Digital Cable. Also, we unfortunately don't get TNT yet in HD.



thanks for the quick reply. How much is the cheapest digital cable? I read the first post of this thread it saids it's 9.99 more? So how much will I be paying, 5 + 9.99 +? thanks

I received this partial tidbit from Red Dana of KQED this morning. It speaks to Comcast and ADS:

Also, HD broadcasting will be expanding starting
February 1st. For OTA viewers, KQED HD will be
signing on 3 hours earlier, and will now transmit 5pm-6am from Sutro.

For Comcast subscribers, Channel 709 will be on
24 hours a day, once your particular area has
been upgraded to total digital by Comcast.
Comcast will be rolling out this upgrade February
through April. NOTE: I don't have any idea which
areas will be upgraded when, so please don't ask.

I checked out TitanTV and it is consistent with KQED HD starting at 5 pm as of 2/1. But I noticed something interesting. The channels that are generally shut down when KQED HD start up at 8pm (KQED World 9.3/190, KQED Life 9.4/191, KQED Kids 9.5/192) are listed as continuing even when KQED HD (9.1/707) is on the air. Going to the KQED TV website, it has ALL the digital channels going 24/7 as of 2/1 on the schedules, 9.1/707, 9.2/189, 9.3/190, 9.4/191, 9.5/192. This is, of course, assuming Comcast picks them all up.

I assume that 9.3-9.5 will be shut down after 5 pm for broadcast given bandwidth limitations of Channel 30 but comcast does not have this limitations (they have the 550Mhz limitation instead). But TitanTV has the 9.3-9.5 channels going 24/7 for digital broadcast.

Has anyone heard anything from Comcast on this? Maybe they will also add TNT HD on 2/1 also (stranger things have happened but not that many stranger things.)

- Phil Klein

You are being Com-lusional :)
:p

I checked out TitanTV and it is consistent with KQED HD starting at 5 pm as of 2/1. But I noticed something interesting. The channels that are generally shut down when KQED HD start up at 8pm (KQED World 9.3/190, KQED Life 9.4/191, KQED Kids 9.5/192) are listed as continuing even when KQED HD (9.1/707) is on the air. Going to the KQED TV website, it has ALL the digital channels going 24/7 as of 2/1 on the schedules, 9.1/707, 9.2/189, 9.3/190, 9.4/191, 9.5/192. This is, of course, assuming Comcast picks them all up.

I assume that 9.3-9.5 will be shut down after 5 pm for broadcast given bandwidth limitations of Channel 30 but comcast does not have this limitations (they have the 550Mhz limitation instead). But TitanTV has the 9.3-9.5 channels going 24/7 for digital broadcast.

Has anyone heard anything from Comcast on this? Maybe they will also add TNT HD on 2/1 also (stranger things have happened but not that many stranger things.)

- Phil Klein

It looks to me that if the SD KQED channels are going to go 24/7 that the HD channel PQ is going to suffer. Comcast is not going to get anymore bandwidth than what KQED is giving them whether it's for one channel or all of them and if KQED is going to multicast all their channels 24/7, well, then something has to give, and I suspect it will be the HD PQ.

(Comcast carries all of KQED's channels BTW)

Do the firewire ports on the Comcast HD DVR work? I'm building an outboard DVR (to get around the space limitations on the Comcast DVR) and would like to control the channel the Comcast box is tuned to via firewire.

Do the firewire ports on the Comcast HD DVR work? I'm building an outboard DVR (to get around the space limitations on the Comcast DVR) and would like to control the channel the Comcast box is tuned to via firewire.

The FireWire port on 6412 is geared for transmitting digital video -- not data, per say. In other words, it's meant to be on the same level as a video ouput like DVI or HDMI. That being said, it does work...but it may not do what you want it to do. You CANNOT hook up an external drive and expect to have more recording space. If that's what you're planning on doing then stop right now...it won't work. What you could do is hook it up to PC and capture the Transport Stream on to the hard drive of you PC. You cannot send it back through the FireWire to your STB, but if your computer is hooked up to your TV, you could use someting like Video Lan to play it. Search for 'CapDVHS' -- there are plenty of threads on how to do this.

That's not what I want to do. I just want to send a command via the firewire port to get the box to change channels. I could do this on the 6200 I used to have, but haven't tried in on the 6412 yet.

I plan on building a box based on MythTV and a pcHDTV HD-3000 tuner, which should be able to capture the QAM HD signal off the Comcast cable. I need the ability to change channels on the 6412 so I can tune the SDTV channels and capture with an analog tuner.

The MythTV box and a 1TB raid array will be a big improvement on the capacity of the 6412.

thanks for the quick reply. How much is the cheapest digital cable? I read the first post of this thread it saids it's 9.99 more? So how much will I be paying, 5 + 9.99 +? thanks

Just call comcast (1-800-COMCAST).

That's not what I want to do. I just want to send a command via the firewire port to get the box to change channels. I could do this on the 6200 I used to have, but haven't tried in on the 6412 yet.

I had no idea you could do this. If the 6200 allowed for it then I don't see why 64xx would be any different. How did you do this with the 6200??

I haven't been here in a few months. Any good news for Santa Rosa? Didn't think so.

See you in a few months.

sfhub,

Thanks for the pointer. I found them at 79.1 and 79.2. Interestingly, my Sony still reports 2.1 as being on 79.2, but it won't tune it. Oh well. At least I found them again.

Thanks again.

Those two channels lost PSIP info sometime in the last few days. There are still at 79.1 and 79.2, but they won't show up as 2.1 and 5.1 anymore if you rescan. They also seem to be dropping in and out occasionally. I had them showing 1hr ago, but now there is no signal.

Hello, I live in emeryville. What is the cheapest comcast service to get in order to watch local hdtv with tnt, espn, discovery etc, I only care about hd channels. Thanks
It's going to run you about $55-65 for the cheapest package with digital(STB included), with a DVR about $60-70.

I haven't been here in a few months. Any good news for Santa Rosa? Didn't think so.

See you in a few months.
:p :D

Hi Jason.....bye Jason.. :D

Did anyone else experience problems with the audio watching 'My Name Is Earl' tonight?

Did anyone else experience problems with the audio watching 'My Name Is Earl' tonight?

Yup, the Office too. It started on the Four Kings. Switched over to the D* KNBC feed and it was okay.

Yup, the Office too. It started on the Four Kings. Switched over to the D* KNBC feed and it was okay.
Earlier than that... Las Vegas and Medium on Monday were lousy too.

Earlier than that... Las Vegas and Medium on Monday were lousy too.


You should have seen the NFL HD "Game of the Week" on the HDSE channel.......
it was nothing but pixellation and ghosting.....totally unwatchable.
Something is definitely going on..........

Does GE sell HDTVs? I don't recall seeing any with a GE logo. Maybe they're trying to kill HDTV. :)

Yesterday I was tuning around with my Fusion III Gold and found that KPIX was at 110.1 and KTVU was nowhere to be found. Usually they are at 83.1 and 83.2 in my area.

Hi everyone. I'm a D* subscriber considering a switch to Comcast when my first HDTV arrives in a couple weeks. Some of the posts I've read here have confused me, however, compared to the HD channel listings I got from Comcast.c*m (for my local area - Richmond). Here's what HD channels I believe should be available:
KTVU Fox
KNTV NBC
KRON
KPIX CBS
KGO ABC
KQED
InDemand
InDemand 2
Discovery
ESPN
HDSE
HBO
Cinemax
Starz
Showtime

Is this indeed the correct list of HD channels that are available? I've seen posts (someone down in San Jose, I think) saying that FOX HD isn't carried and they won't be able to watch the Super Bowl. Are some of the above listed channels not available, or what's going on? If so, which ones? Thanks.

Any other thoughts on D* vs. Comcast would be appreciated, but I'll see what I can find in the past 295 pages here... That 2yr D* commitment is quite annoying, probably what's prompting my switch, since I'm not about to invest that much in that long a time period without seeing it first.

joeyjoey, One issue to be aware of is if you are in a 550MHz (limited bandwidth) area. Check out this post from keenan from last year. I don't see Richmond on the list so you are probably ok.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5432186&&#post5432186

I'm in a 550MHz area area and I only can get KTVU, KNTV, KPIX, KGO, KQED, DISCOVERY, ESPN & premium channels (HBO, Showtime, etc.).

Does anyone know how Sunnyvale is divided up geographically into 550Mhz and 750Mhz?

I currently rent in 550Mhz Sunnyvale, but if I move I'd like to go to the 750Mhz area. (One of the few "luxuries" of not owning a home, I suppose)

Or for that matter, which areas in the south bay have the best infrastructure and channel lineup?

I was living in Campbell a while back and hated the stupid A/B system. I have too many devices (i.e. Tivos) that rely on analog tuners..

Joey, joey, that's INHD 1 and 2, not INDemand. Your list is correct otherwise. I don't know of anyone on the local Comcast systems that don't get KTVU-HD. Besides that, the Super Bowl is on ABC this year.

I'd love to know if the 5C change in San Jose is deliberate/reversible.

Hello,

Does anyone have update about 5c status in San Jose area? I live in North San Jose area and have this dreaded '5c' recording problem (DCT6412 + JVC DVHS deck = no go)...

One thing interesting was that I powered the DVR off briefly last night, then turned back on and quickly played the contents from DVR, I was able to record one Discovery HD show for about 3 minutes. But when I pressed stop and tried to record another show, the 5c issue came back again... :( I will try it tonight and see if I am able to 'reproduce the problem' again. :D


Tim

OK the Warriors at Lakers game on FSBA HD looks better overall than FSBA HD broadcasts of Warrior home games.

No grainy pictures, overall look is crisper and the colors of the uniforms seem more saturated. Maybe the lighting of the arena plays a part. But it wouldn't surprise me if they invested more for better HD production equipment and cameras down there than FSBA.

Hello,

Does anyone have update about 5c status in San Jose area? I live in North San Jose area and have this dreaded '5c' recording problem (DCT6412 + JVC DVHS deck = no go)...

One thing interesting was that I powered the DVR off briefly last night, then turned back on and quickly played the contents from DVR, I was able to record one Discovery HD show for about 3 minutes. But when I pressed stop and tried to record another show, the 5c issue came back again... :( I will try it tonight and see if I am able to 'reproduce the problem' again. :D


Tim

Please report back. I've given up on being able to use my D-VHS deck.

I thought the RF OUT on the 6412 would pass through the cable signal when the box is off. I have sony with a QAM tuner and the local digital look better when I feed it directly.

I triend the Rf BY PASS but that did seem to do anything. Am I going to have to split the cable or am I missing something.

Please report back. I've given up on being able to use my D-VHS deck.

Just spent few hours to 'verify' the recording with 5c=1, and successfully recorded a whole 1-hour Discovery HD show. :cool:

Like I mentioned earlier, you will have to shut off the power to the DVR for about 30 seconds. Then, power it back on and quickly choose the show you would like to record and play it. Hit the record button on the DVHS deck and you should be able to get a DVHS copy... in HD! Before unplugging the power, remember to 'rewind' the show you'd want to record so you will have time to react and proceed all the steps as quickly as possible. Also, don't change channel or do anything to the DVR or you'll lose the 'temporary 5c=0' handshake. :o

This is essentially getting video output before the DVR fully boots up. I think this is a loophole in DVR's firmware, since you are 'rebooting' the DVR so at the first few moments it does not know how to handle 5c. And I was taking advantage of that...


Hope this helps,
Tim

I thought the RF OUT on the 6412 would pass through the cable signal when the box is off. I have sony with a QAM tuner and the local digital look better when I feed it directly.

I triend the Rf BY PASS but that did seem to do anything. Am I going to have to split the cable or am I missing something.

AFAIK, the RF OUT on the 6412 will only output the current channel you're watching, and it will be SD, not HD. You will most likely need a splitter before the DVR, and watch out for the splitter quality.

Tim

I scheduled my Comcast HD installation for this coming Friday. I told the CSR that I wanted a box with HDMI output (and HD DVR) and he made a note of that in the service request. Is there a specific box I should be asking for? I live in Palo Alto.

That's going to be the 6412, Phase III.

I just noticed that I am getting Dolby 5.1 on channel 702 and everything that I subscribe to between 719 and 734. The firmware does not show a change. So did they change the box or something on the Comcast end? I also note that if you skip forward a couple of days in the program guide, it indicates that 709 will be broadcasting in the daytime.

An unrelated question - why can't CBS get their act together to show the PGA in hd?

Another non-digital comment/question - does it annoy anyone other than my wife and me that the commercials on the food channel are a good 10 db louder than the shows? Who wants to buy stuff form people who yell at you? No link to comment on the Food Channel website. I did send Comcast a note; I assume they could fix this if they wanted to.

An unrelated question - why can't CBS get their act together to show the PGA in hd?


In the post link below is a link to an interview with Marty Franks of CBS explaining some of CBS's HD strategy.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6949696&highlight=marty+franks#post6949696
Hot Off The Press! The Latest Television News and Info - AVS Forum

There is also a thread here about the interview,

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=633515
MP3 file of Why CBS Sports isn't 100% HD - AVS Forum

I just watched Ghost Whisperer today, or I should say I tried to watch it as it was loaded with pixelation and audio dropouts. The show that follows it Close To Home was fine. Go figure. It's too bad there is really no one to call to ask what the problem is..

Hey Comcast!! Are 550 systems going to have NFL Network-HD before Thanksgiving this year..?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=637322
NFL Network to air Thurs/Sat night games Fall 2006! - AVS Forum

Hey Comcast!! Are 550 systems going to have NFL Network-HD before Thanksgiving this year..?
Is that a rhetorical question?

I just watched Ghost Whisperer today, or I should say I tried to watch it as it was loaded with pixelation and audio dropouts. The show that follows it Close To Home was fine. Go figure. It's too bad there is really no one to call to ask what the problem is..

I watched Whisperer on my 6412 live and it was very clean. Were you doing Comcast or DirecTV?

Is that a rhetorical question?
:D

I watched Whisperer on my 6412 live and it was very clean. Were you doing Comcast or DirecTV?
I watched it on Comcast, if no one else had problems then I have no idea what the deal is. I'm particularly interested if anyone on a 550 system had problems.

Doesa the 6412 PIII havea 30sec fwrd skip? Or is there a macro for it?

On another issue- When I push my ONDEMAND button I always get the "error retrieving data Communication failure screen.

Anyone know what the casue of this is and how to address it?

Doesa the 6412 PIII havea 30sec fwrd skip? Or is there a macro for it?

On another issue- When I push my ONDEMAND button I always get the "error retrieving data Communication failure screen.

Anyone know what the casue of this is and how to address it?

Go here for the answer to your 30 second skip:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_6412

The OnDemand issue sounds like your box isn't communicating with the head end very well. Do you have a splitter or amp in the mix and is it two way compatible and is the range wide enough?

I'm in the San Jose area (95126) and have been a Dish subscriber for the last 4 years -- we're getting an HDTV and I sure don't want to pay the outrageous prices Dish wants for existing customers to get HD. I'm wondering what switcher deals or promotions I should ask for when 1st talking to Comcast. I know in the past they had a $400 drop the dish promotion (equivalent to $25/month credit).

What about any package specials -- are they running any right now that I should know about (e.g. Digital Platinum discounts, installation credits, free DVR upgrades??)

Finally, what proof, if any, do they need for the Dish subscription?

I'm willing to play Dish off with Comcast if that is a good way to negoiate with either of them-- I'm sure Dish has some form of a customer retention program (I'll ask over in the SF DBS forum).

Thanks Gary

Assuming that Comcast doesn't carry the HDNet calibration/Pattern Screens (and it IS an assumption, as I just haven't seen it), is there a similar tool being broadcast on any of the Comcast HD stations? I would love to tweak my cable input PQ settings.

Assuming that Comcast doesn't carry the HDNet calibration/Pattern Screens (and it IS an assumption, as I just haven't seen it), is there a similar tool being broadcast on any of the Comcast HD stations? I would love to tweak my cable input PQ settings.
'Tune-Up' on INHD.

'Tune-Up' on INHD.
Thanks Bill, I'll have to take a look for it.

Just spent few hours to 'verify' the recording with 5c=1, and successfully recorded a whole 1-hour Discovery HD show. :cool:

Like I mentioned earlier, you will have to shut off the power to the DVR for about 30 seconds. Then, power it back on and quickly choose the show you would like to record and play it. Hit the record button on the DVHS deck and you should be able to get a DVHS copy... in HD! Before unplugging the power, remember to 'rewind' the show you'd want to record so you will have time to react and proceed all the steps as quickly as possible. Also, don't change channel or do anything to the DVR or you'll lose the 'temporary 5c=0' handshake. :o

This is essentially getting video output before the DVR fully boots up. I think this is a loophole in DVR's firmware, since you are 'rebooting' the DVR so at the first few moments it does not know how to handle 5c. And I was taking advantage of that...


Hope this helps,
Tim


Interesting. Are you able to play back those recordings using the component video output of your DVHS deck? That is where it breaks down for me: The recording goes okay, but the 5c settings in the signal force the DVHS deck to downconvert.

I've had Comcast high speed internet for almost 2 years, and was lucky enough to subscribe during a promotion where I pay ~$30/mo. However, earlier this month, I subscribed to Comcast cable television. Well, my first combined bill arrived, and I now see an extra charge for my high speed internet:

CHSI Internet Mdm Lse ($3)

I wasn't happy with this $3 fee showing up out of the blue, so I called Comcast to complain: "Why am I now paying ~33/mo instead of ~$30/mo? It seems as if you're penalizing me for subscribing to cable television!"
Their response was essentially this: "This is how HSI customers are charged these days."

If this has happened to any of you, were you able to contest this extra $3 modem lease?

Thanks for reading.

Hello,

Does anyone have update about 5c status in San Jose area? I live in North San Jose area and have this dreaded '5c' recording problem (DCT6412 + JVC DVHS deck = no go)...

One thing interesting was that I powered the DVR off briefly last night, then turned back on and quickly played the contents from DVR, I was able to record one Discovery HD show for about 3 minutes. But when I pressed stop and tried to record another show, the 5c issue came back again... :( I will try it tonight and see if I am able to 'reproduce the problem' again. :D


Tim

5c flags should have nothing to do with recording to a DVHS, as DVHS is 5c compliant. I've recorded all the Comcast HD channels (except Starz and Cinemax -HD, which I don't have) to my JVC DVHS 5u with only minor issues for a year. The problem people seem to have is establishing the "handshake" at the beginning between the 6412 and the DVHS recorder.

to get the "handshake" between my 6412 and my 5u, I have to turn off my 6412 (I know, I'm not supposed to do this, but I have to in order to record to D-VHS; I don't mean unplug it, but just turn off the power to the 6412) while the 5u is off. then i turn the 5u on. after the 5u fully turns on, I turn on the 6412 (so it's off for only a few seconds). I can then record from the 6412, and view on the 5u what I am recording.

my 5u assigns I-3 to my 6412, and id's the 6412 when hooked up correctly.

Playing back a tape on the 5u loses the handshake for me, forcing me to repeat the above. the handshake is finicky, but once I start a recording correctly it works for as long as the recording, a 3+ hour movie being the longest straight recording I've made.

about 3 times over the past year, I've totally or partially lost the ability to get the handshake, and unplugging the 5u for a few minutes (as opposed to merely turning it off) has worked to get it back. I haven't had to unplug the 6412 to regain the handshake, just the 5u. I've always been able to get things working again.

I'm in the San Jose area (95126) and have been a Dish subscriber for the last 4 years -- we're getting an HDTV and I sure don't want to pay the outrageous prices Dish wants for existing customers to get HD. I'm wondering what switcher deals or promotions I should ask for when 1st talking to Comcast. I know in the past they had a $400 drop the dish promotion (equivalent to $25/month credit).

What about any package specials -- are they running any right now that I should know about (e.g. Digital Platinum discounts, installation credits, free DVR upgrades??)

Finally, what proof, if any, do they need for the Dish subscription?

I'm willing to play Dish off with Comcast if that is a good way to negoiate with either of them-- I'm sure Dish has some form of a customer retention program (I'll ask over in the SF DBS forum).

Thanks Gary

If you dont have to switch dont as they dont compare on some many different levels... but if you must they will give you a 25.00 dollar a month credit for 18 month.

'Tune-Up' on INHD.
Hi Bill,
I went to the INHD website and found that the next broadcast of tune up is Sat at 4AM. Do you think if I set the DVR to record it, that it would be the same as doing it "live"?

Hi Bill,
I went to the INHD website and found that the next broadcast of tune up is Sat at 4AM. Do you think if I set the DVR to record it, that it would be the same as doing it "live"?

Yes. In fact, I think it is a necessity to record it (have had it on my dvr for months), for you will need more time than the live broadcast to play with it.

The bottom line price on HD from comcast is about $60 a month. You need to have digital clasic and either get an HD decoder or a HD PVR.

Andy.

hey guys,

i'm trying to figure something out. i'm going to be building an htpc and subscribing to basic digital and hdtv through comcast. my htpc will have a qam hdtv tuner card in it.

by having the hdtv receiver connected to my hdtv tuner card in htpc, should i be able to view all the hdtv feeds that i normally would be able to (without the pc, but just directly connected to the tv)?

i read somewhere that the signals have to be un-encrypted for my htpc to pick up the feed, but i would think that the hdtv receiver from comcast would eliminate this problem.

Thanks

does anyone know what hd channels are encrypted or not for comcast in this area?

i'm in 95054

Interesting. Are you able to play back those recordings using the component video output of your DVHS deck? That is where it breaks down for me: The recording goes okay, but the 5c settings in the signal force the DVHS deck to downconvert.

5c flags should have nothing to do with recording to a DVHS, as DVHS is 5c compliant. I've recorded all the Comcast HD channels (except Starz and Cinemax -HD, which I don't have) to my JVC DVHS 5u with only minor issues for a year. The problem people seem to have is establishing the "handshake" at the beginning between the 6412 and the DVHS recorder.

to get the "handshake" between my 6412 and my 5u, I have to turn off my 6412 (I know, I'm not supposed to do this, but I have to in order to record to D-VHS; I don't mean unplug it, but just turn off the power to the 6412) while the 5u is off. then i turn the 5u on. after the 5u fully turns on, I turn on the 6412 (so it's off for only a few seconds). I can then record from the 6412, and view on the 5u what I am recording.

my 5u assigns I-3 to my 6412, and id's the 6412 when hooked up correctly.

Playing back a tape on the 5u loses the handshake for me, forcing me to repeat the above. the handshake is finicky, but once I start a recording correctly it works for as long as the recording, a 3+ hour movie being the longest straight recording I've made.

about 3 times over the past year, I've totally or partially lost the ability to get the handshake, and unplugging the 5u for a few minutes (as opposed to merely turning it off) has worked to get it back. I haven't had to unplug the 6412 to regain the handshake, just the 5u. I've always been able to get things working again.

I was able to get HD output from component. If you get downrezed output, it means you recorded the material with 5c=1.

By using leftjab's method, I was able to retain a stable handshake and recorded a HD show from DVR. But no matter how I tried, I was not able to record live show from the DVR, only the programs saved in DVR. Also, once you play another show on DVR, the 'temporary 5c=0' handshake will be lost. In my case, redo the whole process means unplug the DVR before I could get back to business. Resetting/unplugging the DVHS deck does not do the trick... :mad:

Anyways, I am pretty happy that I am able to archive the shows I want IN MY TERM. I'm sure the DVR and/or DVHS firmware is a bit flakey (handshake part), but for sure Hollywood does not want the archiving process to be painless... :(


Tim

Had breakups on 24 and Surface tonight, and one moment of pixelization on CSI:Miami...

I watched Surface and 24 live on Comcast, no breakups at all. Sounds like your 550 is screwing you again Keenan.

Warning - long post, but amusing in a strange sort of way

I sent Comcast a question that I posted here a week or so ago. The replies suggest that perhaps drug testing of employees is in order. The messages have been rearranged to put the oldest first. I've added lines to show where one message stops and another starts.
_________________________
Original email: My wife and I are fans of the Food Channel. But the fact that the commercials are maybe 10 decibels louder than the programs is really annoying (and would be illegal if broadcast). Since this comes over your cable system, can you fix it?
___________________________
First reply: Thank you for contacting us regarding your Comcast cable service.

I understand you have a question regarding the Food channel and its audio programming during commercials. We understand how frustrating it can be to want certain programs, such as sporting events, and to not be able to see them. At the same time, we realize that there is certain programming available that you would rather not see. The relationship
between the networks (channels) and Comcast is such that the networks broadcast their signal and Comcast picks it up and distributes it to our customers. In this way, we are able to offer many channels, packages, and sporting events to choose from.

The type of programming available on each channel is at the discretion of the network that broadcasts the signal. As a result, there will be games and events that are blacked out on local stations due to contracts and agreements with no advanced notice. For the shows that you would like to limit viewing for certain family members, Comcast offers a
parental control feature on some analog converter boxes and on most digital boxes. Information about the parental control feature can be found on www.Comcast.com under the FAQ section.

For general concerns about programming that is provided by the networks, please contact the network or programming service directly. If you need further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us back.

If you have any more questions feel free to reply to this e-mail, or you can chat with one of our Online Customer Support Specialists 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at
http://www.comcastsupport.com/videochat

Thank you for choosing Comcast as your Cable TV provider.
Sincerely,
Shanna
Comcast Customer Support
_____________________________
My reply to Shanna: Shanna,
Are you a person or a Bot? I ask because your reply looks to be a standard reply; it certainly does not address my question.
_____________________________
Next reply from Comcast: Thank you for contacting Comcast.

If you have sound and the sound is noisy on one channel this could be caused by the cable not being connected tightly. Check your cabling connections from your outlet to all the devices you have connected.

Should you only get sound from one speaker, this could be caused by loose cable to your speakers. Check your speaker connections and ensure they are tight. You will also want to make sure the wires are not frayed, and the plugs are not bent.

If you just have overall poor audio quality, the cause of this could be audio levels in external devices are not set relative to the Cable box volume level. Use your remote control and set the volume level for your Cable box to approximately 3/4 of maximum volume level and then adjust the audio levels on the external devices.

If you have tried all the steps listed above and you still have poor sound quality please contact us by chat so we can troubleshoot the issue with you.

You can reach our secure CHAT environment at http://www.comcastsupport.com/videochat or call us at 1-888-266-2278.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any more questions.

Thank you for choosing Comcast.
Sincerely,
Janet
Comcast Customer Care Specialist
_______________________________
My next note: Janet,

Based on your answer, my question for you is the same question I asked Shanna - are you human or a bot? Because your answer is simply not responsive to my question, which I repeat here in case it is too far down the page:

My wife and I are fans of the Food Channel. But the fact that the commercials are maybe 10 decibels louder than the programs is really annoying (and would be illegal if broadcast). Since this comes over your cable system, can you fix it?

Perhaps if there is not an appropriate answer in your database of canned answers, you might look up the answer or ask someone who knows. Even to say "I don't know" would be better than answering a question that is not remotely close to the one I asked.

With diminishing hope of an actual response,
______________________________
And this morning's reply: After reviewing your e-mail and your account, I see that your issues have not been resolved. At this time I believe it is necessary to send a technician to your home to check the line frequency going to that specific channel to verify if the signal is weak.

To make this process easier for you, you will need to contact us in our live chat forum to setup your technician visit. One of our Online Customer Support Specialist will be happy to assist you with scheduling a service call. You can visit us at your convenience 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at: http://www.comcastsupport.com/videochat

Thank you for choosing Comcast as your Cable TV service provider.

Sincerely,
Raquel
Comcast Customer Care Specialist
______________________________

...(and would be illegal if broadcast)...Is that realy true? All broadcast network channels and cable channels do this and it is intentional. Maybe the FCC should be asked.

As a practical solution, you could install a device like the Terk VR-1 Volume Regulator. I did this some time ago and have not had the problem with commercials and even when changing channels between those with unequal sound levels. The VR-1 works with analog audio only and I have to do some switching to the digital audio when there is actually something I want to listen to in 5.1, that's rarely needed for normal TV watching.

cgw, that's friggin hilarious. It's one thing to get an initial "canned" or "bot-based" response but 3 times???? You should consider making the tech come out just to teach them a lesson -- then again they'll probably charge you for the visit. :D

Warning - long post, but amusing in a strange sort of way
That was a really good one. Thanks for the chuckle.

The varying sound levels has been a problem for me and even moreso for my wife as she can't stand commercials anyway. This has become a bigger problem now that a lot of movies are done in 5.1 Dolby Digital.

Worst case was just the other night when we were watching "The Road to Perdition". (Don't watch it if you don't like violence!) Anyway, in order to hear the dialog, you need to set the volume up pretty high, then the shooting begins and it blasts you out of your chair. If that isn't bad enough, then a commercial comes on and it is louder again by another 10dbs.
I handed the remote to my wife, something a man does not like to do, and said see if you can keep the sound satisfactory for you. She wasn't any better at it than I was plus she has the habit of not unmuting the sound once the movie starts again.

A great movie, and it would have been much better without the commercials.

I'm hoping that once the cutover to all digital OTA transmission happens, that the commercials will also be done with the same sound levels so it won't be such a problem. In the meantime, it would appear the complaining to Comcast is not a comcastic idea......... :rolleyes:

To respond to all of Comcast's flimflams would take up too much room and time. I would like to address the most lame-brained ones, though. I assume you already know that Comcast makes decisions based on random things glamorized by the press and the resulting rantings of venal spouters, but I have something more important to tell you. Of perhaps even more concern is that Comcast wants to hamstring our efforts to make some changes here. Faugh.

If there is one truth in this world, it's that Comcast is every bit as muzzy-headed as putrid, money-grubbing fast-buck artists. Don't make the mistake of thinking otherwise. Comcast does, and that's why there are many roads leading to the defeat of its plans to destroy the natural beauty of our parks and forests. I definitely contend that all of these roads must eventually pass through the same set of gates: the ability to expose injustice and puncture prejudice. Once, just once, I'd like to see Comcast's sycophants keep our priorities in check. But until they do that (if they ever do that), we must realize that I would undeniably like to comment on Comcast's attempt to associate nihilism with commercialism. There is no association. Comcast's positions occasionally differ in terms of how foul-mouthed can they are, but generally share one fundamental tendency: They mete out harsh and arbitrary punishment against Comcast's adversaries until they're intimidated into a benumbed, neutralized, impotent, and non-functioning mass.

Although the historical battle between good and evil is exemplified in the philosophical division between Platonic order and Aristotelian chaos, I'm not very conversant with Comcast's background. To be quite frank, I don't care to be. I already know enough to state with confidence that if Comcast could have one wish, it'd wish for the ability to make bargains with the devil. Then, people the world over would be too terrified to acknowledge that Comcast coins polysyllabic neologisms to make its fibs sound like they're actually important. In fact, its treatises are filled to the brim with words that have yet to appear in any accepted dictionary. While Comcast might not relabel millions of people as "uneducated" per se, Comcast says that the best way to reduce cognitive dissonance and restore homeostasis to one's psyche is to use every conceivable form of diplomacy, deception, pressure, coercion, bribery, treason, and terror to acquire public acceptance of its ethically bankrupt homilies. This is at best wrong. At worst, it is a lie. Comcast is undoubtedly up to something. I don't know exactly what, but its opinion is that its blessing is the equivalent of a papal imprimatur. Of course, opinions are like sphincters: we all have them. So let me tell you my opinion. My opinion is that it's easy to tell if Comcast's lying. If its lips are moving, it's lying. When Comcast tells us that human life is expendable, it somehow fails to mention that it is incapable of looking with an open mind at anything that doesn't strictly endorse its views. It fails to mention that it, serving as judge, jury, and executioner, has decreed that its way of life is correct and everyone else's isn't. And it fails to mention that someone once said to me, "That last statement is almost a tautology." This phrase struck me so forcefully that I have often used it since. To reiterate the main message of this letter, Comcast does not play nice with others.

Note: This letter was brought to you by way of ... (http://www.pakin.org/complaint/)

Is that a rhetorical question?
750mhz systems don't get NFL-HD either. At least not full-time, only a couple hours a week for "game of the week", which is nice but it's a replay, not live. The rest of the programming is SD.

(HSI) the $3/mo charge is for leasing of the cable modem. Yes you can avoid it, if you purchase your own cable modem. If you are in a legacy AT&T area and they give you a Motorola "Surfboard" modem (black and stands vertically) you should replace it anyway, since those are not compatible with the legacy ATT areas and will give you HORRIBLE upload speeds (and half the download speed). They did this to me, so I returned it and purchased a Linksys cable modem for about $60. It will take almost 2 years to pay for itself, but at least I get full speed (which is 3M down, ~350up right now in our area).

does anyone know what hd channels are encrypted or not for comcast in this area?

i'm in 95054


anyone?

i really don't want to waste money on upgrading my htpc if i can't use it

That was a really good one. Thanks for the chuckle.

The varying sound levels has been a problem for me and even moreso for my wife as she can't stand commercials anyway. This has become a bigger problem now that a lot of movies are done in 5.1 Dolby Digital.

Worst case was just the other night when we were watching "The Road to Perdition". (Don't watch it if you don't like violence!) Anyway, in order to hear the dialog, you need to set the volume up pretty high, then the shooting begins and it blasts you out of your chair. If that isn't bad enough, then a commercial comes on and it is louder again by another 10dbs.
...


Try going into the cable box settings in the on-screen menu, to audio settings, and set Compression to "Heavy". Also check that output is set to "Matrix" for Dolby out.
(I can't remember the exact menu tree, sorry, not in front of the box...)

This worked for me to get the commercials & shows/movies to be same volume level.

Occasionally center channels will be much quieter than others, no idea, figure it's bad Dolby mixing...
at least CBS shows etc. don't forget and DROP the center channel any more :)

mpegripper,
ABC, CBS, Fox, KRON, NBC and PBS should be unencrypted.

sweet
thanks

Warning - long post, but amusing in a strange sort of way

I sent Comcast a question that I posted here a week or so ago. The replies suggest that perhaps drug testing of employees is in order. The messages have bee rearranged to put the oldest first. I've added lines to show where one message stops and another......

A wonderful instance of a broader trend: many companies simply don't want to talk to their customers. They don't want feedback or suggestions, much less complaints. They don't want to hear about it. The assumption so clearly made here is that "you couldn't possibly be asking a question we haven't anticipated. Therefore, we don't need a human to actually respond."

Is that realy true? All broadcast network channels and cable channels do this and it is intentional. Maybe the FCC should be asked.

This is in reference to my comment that I thought that it would be illegal to have 10 db louder commercials in OTA broadcasts.

I've done a little looking and can find some references to such limits, e.g., see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_level_compression#Common_uses. I did not find a specific FCC limit. My impression is that as modulation goes over 100%, an FM or TV signal tends to spread beyond its assigned bandwidth (I'm not a EE or radio engineer so this may be off base). I did find hits suggesting that the FCC gave up any thought of enforcement long ago. The problem is due in part to the fact that the FCC limits instantaneous peak volume levels, but perceived volume tracks with rms volume. Broadcasters can raise rms volume and stay under a peak volume limit by compressing the signal. This has long been the practice of many AM radio stations, where the goal is to be the loudest signal on the dial. So if the compression used during commercials is greater than that used in the show, the commercial is louder even though peak volume levels are the same.

I watched Surface and 24 live on Comcast, no breakups at all. Sounds like your 550 is screwing you again Keenan.
Yeah, it's really getting annoying. I guess I'm going to need a service call, maybe I'll get lucky and the tech actually has a clue.

Had breakups on 24 and Surface tonight, and one moment of pixelization on CSI:Miami...


I agree that it's something specific to your system/equip.......
I had a perfect picture for "24" on the San Jose 860Mhz system.
Good luck!

i just asked my friend who has comcast and watches the food channel too

he said it happens to him as well, commercials are a lot louder

Try going into the cable box settings in the on-screen menu, to audio settings, and set Compression to "Heavy". Also check that output is set to "Matrix" for Dolby out.
(I can't remember the exact menu tree, sorry, not in front of the box...)

This worked for me to get the commercials & shows/movies to be same volume level.

In case anyone is curious the "Compression" setting compresses the dynamic range of the Dolby Digital when output over the analog audio ports (as opposed to mp3 type compression which is to save space). Dolby Digital dynamic range is outside that of the analog audio ports so commonly in downmixing much of the audio will be lost or clipped. By compressing the range used, this loss/clipping doesn't need to occur or is minimized. When the commercials are playing, many times they are not Dolby Digital so there is no loss/clipping. If one has turned up the volume so they can hear the dolby digital over analog, when the audio switches out of dolby digital, the volume can be quite high. The way to actually look at it was the volume for downmixed dolby digital prior to "compression - high" was very low, so you set the TV volume very high to compensate and that is why the commercials are very loud (ie they are supposed to be based on your volume setting)

To add to the above, none of those compression settings affect the optical or coax digital audio output.

750mhz systems don't get NFL-HD either. At least not full-time, only a couple hours a week for "game of the week", which is nice but it's a replay, not live. The rest of the programming is SD.

Right. Neither do the 860Mhz systems, so no one in the Bay Area gets anything more than you've mentioned (as far as I know). I usually find the HD Game of the Week on the HDSE channel or sometimes one of the INHD channels. It's very confusing....you never know for sure what you're gonna find on those channels (and the Guide never displays the HD Game of the Week title).

Right. Neither do the 860Mhz systems, so no one in the Bay Area gets anything more than you've mentioned (as far as I know). I usually find the HD Game of the Week on the HDSE channel or sometimes one of the INHD channels. It's very confusing....you never know for sure what you're gonna find on those channels (and the Guide never displays the HD Game of the Week title).
That's interesting, being that Comcast is the jilted suitor in getting these games, it will be interesting to see if they even carry them. Not getting those games puts a nice dent in Comcast's hopes of having an ESPN-like OLN.

My experience tonight....

The State Of The Union was pretty much unwatchable on all HD channels (this is not a political statement :) ) due to long periods of breakups and pixelization.

American Idol had a few short periods of pixelization and one thing I had never seen before but I assume you HD veterans have.... a few times during commercial breaks..no commercial (I'm not complaining)... just a big FOX logo. I checked and there was a commercial on the standard FOX channel.

My experience tonight....

The State Of The Union was pretty much unwatchable on all HD channels (this is not a political statement :) ) due to long periods of breakups and pixelization.

American Idol had a few short periods of pixelization and one thing I had never seen before but I assume you HD veterans have.... a few times during commercial breaks..no commercial (I'm not complaining)... just a big FOX logo. I checked and there was a commercial on the standard FOX channel.

sounds like u are on one of those 550mhz systems... looks awfully good on all channels in palo alto... what system are we on?

sounds like u are on one of those 550mhz systems... looks awfully good on all channels in palo alto... what system are we on?

I'm on a 550MHz system. It was really bad, especially towards the end. My son had to do a report for school on it so we ended up turning to a SD channel which was fine but all the HD channels that were broadcasting it had similar problems for us.

I assume that everyone watching American Idol on FOX HD saw what we saw - several long gaps during commercials where there was no commercial just a big FOX logo?

I'm on a 550MHz system. It was really bad, especially towards the end. My son had to do a report for school on it so we ended up turning to a SD channel which was fine but all the HD channels that were broadcasting it had similar problems for us.

I assume that everyone watching American Idol on FOX HD saw what we saw - several long gaps during commercials where there was no commercial just a big FOX logo?

i've seen that before, and sometimes they forget to wake up from that logo and lag severely from the SD channel. one time a whole segment of simpsons did not come up because of that logo. sounds like there are two feeds, SD and HD that are controlled separately.

My experience tonight....

The State Of The Union was pretty much unwatchable on all HD channels (this is not a political statement :) ) due to long periods of breakups and pixelization.

American Idol had a few short periods of pixelization and one thing I had never seen before but I assume you HD veterans have.... a few times during commercial breaks..no commercial (I'm not complaining)... just a big FOX logo. I checked and there was a commercial on the standard FOX channel.

Same here (in San Jose). I thought it was the Comcast DVR's fault, but apparently it was the signal. Is it worth calling Comcast to complain? What good will this do--will they credit my account?

I'm on a 550MHz system. It was really bad, especially towards the end. My son had to do a report for school on it so we ended up turning to a SD channel which was fine but all the HD channels that were broadcasting it had similar problems for us.

I assume that everyone watching American Idol on FOX HD saw what we saw - several long gaps during commercials where there was no commercial just a big FOX logo?
I don't watch AI but from postings in the local Yahoo forum it seems KTVU was having problems last night, so I doubt it was a Comcast problem, but it can be hard to tell sometimes.

I don't watch AI but from postings in the local Yahoo forum it seems KTVU was having problems last night, so I doubt it was a Comcast problem, but it can be hard to tell sometimes.

Ditto reception problems here in Milpitas. AI was so bad we had to switch on SD. I kept checking back and forth and by the end of the show it seemed ok.

Ditto reception problems here in Milpitas. AI was so bad we had to switch on SD. I kept checking back and forth and by the end of the show it seemed ok.

I had the same problems except it affected channels 702, 703 and 705. The one that really upset me was the 705 (CBS) because that's NCIS ( I'm a die hard fan, when I was in the Navy I worked with NIS for a time and I like to see how accurate this show is ). The signal for CBS OTA was fine so the problems where coming from Comcast, looks like they are messing around with the signals again but now that they encrypt most of the channels I can't see what exactly is going on.

Laters,
Mikef5

So I was going through some of my unread email and came across one of the KQED HD Alerts from Red Dana. I was about to move on when a paragraph caught my eye:

For Comcast subscribers, Channel 709 will be on
24 hours a day, once your particular area has
been upgraded to total digital by Comcast.
Comcast will be rolling out this upgrade February
through April. NOTE: I don't have any idea which
areas will be upgraded when, so please don't ask.

"total digital"??? Do you think he's talking about the digital simulcast or are parts of the Bay Area really going to go to an all digital system?

I haven't verified it but a member in the Yahoo group said that 709 was on all day in Santa Rosa although when I was channel surfing today I recall seeing the blue screen....


On another note, it looks like the bay area is now two firmware upgrades behind...12.27 is showing up in PA RCN Cable systems....maybe the bay area is just bypassing 12.22 and going right to 12.27, of course I'm not sure that would really be Comcastic... :p

Looks like Universal-HD will be available for Olympic coverage on some Comcast systems, it's actually showing guide data already on systems back east.

Of course, this is no doubt a non-event for us 550 folks...as usual...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7042878#post7042878
What's the next HD channel for Comcast? - AVS Forum

has this been discussed before?? lets put kronHD out of its misery and add UHD, TNTHD, or even CWHD whatever its called. kron HD is the biggest waste of bandwidth ever, i've not watched anything on there since they stopped looping cal vs colorado st twice a day and even i the big bear supporter was starting to get sick of it after the first hundred viewings.

I haven't verified it but a member in the Yahoo group said that 709 was on all day in Santa Rosa although when I was channel surfing today I recall seeing the blue screen....

here in North San Jose/Santa Clara border (95134): I watched KQED HD around 5-6 pm las night. Initially there was no audio and it came back up. later the picture was not very stable. I guess kQED has some technical issues to fix. This morning this channel is not showing a blue screen but comcast message says "... This channel will be back in one moment...".

Mikef5, are you out there? Maybe we can get Mr. J to let us know if the Comcast/Universal-HD deal is just going to be another TNT-HD for the bay area?

At least if we know it will gives folks time to get DirecTV or Dish installed for the Olympics.. ;) :D

From JWhip in the thread linked above,

I can confirm that Comcast and Universal have in fact reached a deal. I had heard that a couple of weeks ago but didn't ewant to post it here until I confirmed it. The deal permits Comcast to carry Universal HD but does not mandate it. It depends on region by region. IN short, it is TNT-HD all over again. The Philly market DOES NOT have bandwidth to carry it at this time. It is thought that the Olympics coverge was most important, so that will preempt INHD2 programming on our system. Nashville has the bandwidth as I am sure other areas do as well. I do not believe any system in SE Pa or any part of NJ will carry the channel full time for awhile. I do not know how long. Frankly, I get it on D* and do not think you are really missing anything as I almost never watch it. However, I realize that others will disagree with that asessment.

Mikef5, are you out there? Maybe we can get Mr. J to let us know if the Comcast/Universal-HD deal is just going to be another TNT-HD for the bay area?

At least if we know it will gives folks time to get DirecTV or Dish installed for the Olympics.. ;) :D

From JWhip in the thread linked above,

Universal HD is launching in the bay area on Feb 9th!

So I was going through some of my unread email and came across one of the KQED HD Alerts from Red Dana. I was about to move on when a paragraph caught my eye:

For Comcast subscribers, Channel 709 will be on
24 hours a day, once your particular area has
been upgraded to total digital by Comcast.
Comcast will be rolling out this upgrade February
through April. NOTE: I don't have any idea which
areas will be upgraded when, so please don't ask.

"total digital"??? Do you think he's talking about the digital simulcast or are parts of the Bay Area really going to go to an all digital system?

She is referring to digital simulcast of the analog channels. Total digital is not happening anytime soon.

Universal HD is launching in the bay area on Feb 9th!

Do you have a source for this? I am somewhat disappointed at not getting TNT HD, ESPN2 HD, HDNET, WB HD but this would help slightly.

Universal HD is launching in the bay area on Feb 9th!
On all systems, or just non-550 systems? My guess would be systems that have INHD.

Do you have a source for this? I am somewhat disappointed at not getting TNT HD, ESPN2 HD, HDNET, WB HD but this would help slightly.
Don't expect to see HDNet on Comcast systems anytime in the near future, or even the far future for that matter.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Comcast Corp. (CMCSA.O), the No. 1 cable TV operator, on Thursday said quarterly profit fell 69 percent on a drop in investment gains and a higher tax rate, and offered a disappointing outlook for 2006 growth....

Shares fell 3.8 percent on Comcast's outlook for cable cash flow to rise 10 percent to 11 percent in 2006, hurt by the costs of deploying new digital phone services.....

New digital phone service, to be sold in a bundle with cable TV and Internet, is expected to lift sales overall, according to John Alchin, chief financial officer, adding that cash flow growth will be in the double digits ``over the next several years.''....

Comcast shares fell $1.07 to $26.92 on Nasdaq.

Don't expect to see HDNet on Comcast systems anytime in the near future, or even the far future for that matter.

While i dont expect HDNet, they should at least offer TNT HD in the bay area. I miss out on all the TNT basketball games and movies.

On all systems, or just non-550 systems? My guess would be systems that have INHD.

I would assume just non-550 systems.

Do you have a source for this? I am somewhat disappointed at not getting TNT HD, ESPN2 HD, HDNET, WB HD but this would help slightly.

I can't reveal my source. Keenan can vouch that my information is pretty accurate. I wouldn't quote something if it wasn't going to happen.

"total digital"??? Do you think he's talking about the digital simulcast or are parts of the Bay Area really going to go to an all digital system?
I think he probably means ADS. Otherwise with virtually zero warning, and months of telling people about simulcast, many TiVo folks not using cable STBs, and many many more folks who are using builtin cable-ready tuners are going to be rather annoyed.

I can't reveal my source. Keenan can vouch that my information is pretty accurate. I wouldn't quote something if it wasn't going to happen.

I'm not Keenan, but I will definitely vouch for bmark's sources -- they're usually right on.

I think he probably means ADS. Otherwise with virtually zero warning, and months of telling people about simulcast, many TiVo folks not using cable STBs, and many many more folks who are using builtin cable-ready tuners are going to be rather annoyed.

I agree (and received some info that confirms this). It was just a little alarming (in a good way) to see the message from Red -- he's usually pretty good at wording as to not cause any confusion. I'll be happy with a simulcast (provided us 750MHz people get it)...I need more pause-time on my analogs!!! :D

How do we know when ADS is on? Will there be new channels on the guide or just by quality improvement?

I think he probably means ADS. Otherwise with virtually zero warning, and months of telling people about simulcast, many TiVo folks not using cable STBs, and many many more folks who are using builtin cable-ready tuners are going to be rather annoyed.

How do we know when ADS is on? Will there be new channels on the guide or just by quality improvement?

As someone mentioned ealier, if you have QAM-enabled tuner on your TV, you can scan to see if it picks them up. If not, I would expect Comcast to make some sort of announcment...probably via the STB-based messages.

Universal HD is launching in the bay area on Feb 9th!

Thanks for the good news!
Any idea where (what channel) it will be on? (750-860Mhz systems)

Is Universal HD really "launching" or is it to be carried on InHD temporarily for the Olympics?

u know what this means... we can watch westminster dog show in HD!!

Major channel lineup changes last few days. Stuff has been shifted around to make space for new channels. All the Music Choice channels got consolidated onto one 256QAM channel rather than being spread out everywhere. 100.1-100.26 have been relocated elsewhere. They are still broadcasting on those channels, but they've all been duplicated elsewhere and the cable box is using the new channels, so probably ch100 (RF651) will be replaced with an HD channel shortly.

The ADS channels no longer pixelate. They look decent. Folks with bad analog feeds will be very happy. Folks with good analog feeds will see incremental improvement, less noise, better color, slightly sharper.

The most likely scenario is they will one day flip a switch and your cable box will get updated guide information that tells it to tune to the digital version of FOX when you enter 002. It should be transparent to you if you use a cable box and one day you will just notice the noise on the analog channel is much less. If you use a QAM tuner w/o cablecard you probably have to learn some new channels.

Mhz psip cbl qam
585 3 84.4 KNTV NBC
585 6 84.6 KICU KICU
585 18 84.7 KSTS Telemundo
585 10 84.9 KTEH PBS
585 16 84.11 KKPx KKPX

735 7 114.1 KGO ABC
735 9 114.2 KQED PBS
735 14 114.3 KDTV UNIVISION
735 13 114.4 KBWB WB
735 19 114.5 KTNC KTNC
735 12 114.6 KBHK UPN
735 8 114.7 KTSF KTSF
735 2 114.8 KTVU FOX
735 4 114.9 KRON KRON
735 5 114.10 KPIX CBS

Does anyone know of a website that tracks what HD channels are available in the Bay Area vis Comcast? I'm in Mountain View, and I'm using the digital tuner in my HDTV, and for a while have had this lineup:

2.1 FOX
5.1 CBS
7.1 ABC
9.1 KQED
116.1 NBC

Recently, 2.1 and 5.1 no longer come in. Perhaps they have moved?

I have a friend in Sunnyvale, and they are only getting NBC in HD, but on channel 33.1 (?)
It all seems so random. Thanks in advance.

Recently, 2.1 and 5.1 no longer come in. Perhaps they have moved?
FOX-HD and CBS-HD recently loss PSIP data. Use the physical channel 79.2 and 79.1 if you want to watch those channels.

There really isn't any site that tracks the QAM channels. They vary based on area. Also they move around frequently so unless someone is keeping close track, the data will be out of date quite often. 99% of cable subscribers don't notice the changes because they are using virtual channel mappings which are preserved.

I can't reveal my source. Keenan can vouch that my information is pretty accurate. I wouldn't quote something if it wasn't going to happen.
If bmark says it, believe it.

If Comcast hoses the 550 systems, yet again....I just may have to give the folks at the Chronicle and Mercury News a call....the Olympics will make a great platform for some press...;)

While i dont expect HDNet, they should at least offer TNT HD in the bay area. I miss out on all the TNT basketball games and movies.
They will have TNT, eventually, part of the problem I think is that the bay area is composed of many different systems yet they all get the same channels/market, more or less, and in the past Comcast had been burned badly in the press so they are probably waiting until they can have a smooth rollout after all the changes they are currently doing.

This is why the Universal-HD thing is interesting, my bet is that INHD will be pre-empted for UNI-HD Olympic coverage as opposed to adding the channel outright.

Are other people having severe stuttering problems on the non-HD KQED channels- KQED encore (189), KQED World (190) and KQED Life (191). I was trying to watch the American Experience program on the Nurenburg trials and it was unwatchable. Perhaps it is KQED as they are expanding HD programing time and taking bandwidth?

- Phil Klein

FOX-HD and CBS-HD recently loss PSIP data. Use the physical channel 79.2 and 79.1 if you want to watch those channels.

There really isn't any site that tracks the QAM channels. They vary based on area. Also they move around frequently so unless someone is keeping close track, the data will be out of date quite often. 99% of cable subscribers don't notice the changes because they are using virtual channel mappings which are preserved.

Is there any website that tracks this info ?? It is really a pain to try and keep track of this stuff.

I guess Comcast has to give us the HD locals but they sure dont have to make it easy for us to get them. :(

Jim

Is there any website that tracks this info ?? It is really a pain to try and keep track of this stuff.

I guess Comcast has to give us the HD locals but they sure dont have to make it easy for us to get them. :(

The main issue is that the Bay Area is a mess of old/new/outdated cable systems -- thanks in part to TCI, AT&T, and some stubborn cities (sometimes rightfully so). You could literally walk across the street and be in a completely different system with a completely different channel lineup. While Comcast has aligned their channel mapping nationwide (for those using STB's), actual frequencies will always be different from market to market (and probably always will). Why Comcast keeps changing these within the markets is anyone's guess. If you really want to know, just post your city/zip and I'm sure someone will be more then happy to give the HD lineup. The SD channel lineup is pretty much the same around the Bay Area so you can go to TitanTV or someplace for that.

My 6412 III has firmware 12.13. How far behind am I? :(


On another note, it looks like the bay area is now two firmware upgrades behind...12.27 is showing up in PA RCN Cable systems....maybe the bay area is just bypassing 12.22 and going right to 12.27, of course I'm not sure that would really be Comcastic... :p

My City/Zip is Danville/94526, and I don't use a STB but just the QAM tunner built into my DLP TV. When I first got it about 1 month ago I had Channels:
2-1 which is KTVU-HD, but that one dissapered 2 weeks ago
5-1, 7-1, 7-2
9-1 through 9-5 but they dissapered tonight
11-1 KNTV-HD & 11-2 KNTV weather.

I would love to know what happened to the disspering channels. To make things worst I have a filter that blocks everything above Channel 115 ( for modulating of my Tivo & XBMC ) so if they move the channels up there I can't get them.

My City/Zip is Danville/94526, and I don't use a STB but just the QAM tunner built into my DLP TV. When I first got it about 1 month ago I had Channels:
2-1 which is KTVU-HD, but that one dissapered 2 weeks ago
5-1, 7-1, 7-2
9-1 through 9-5 but they dissapered tonight
11-1 KNTV-HD & 11-2 KNTV weather.

I would love to know what happened to the disspering channels. To make things worst I have a filter that blocks everything above Channel 115 ( for modulating of my Tivo & XBMC ) so if they move the channels up there I can't get them.
Well, in my area FOX-HD and CBS-HD lost their PSIP data and I had to use the physical channel 79.2 and 79.1 to access them. The physical channel might be different in your area. You can try those two but if it doesn't work, you can rescan the QAM channels and they will probably show up somewhere. It's also possible your area transmits KTVU-HD and KQED on the same 256QAM channel and that is why they are both disappearing.

In my area, KGO/KQED are broadcast at physical 117 and psip'd to 7.x and 9.x and KNTV is broadcast at physical 116, so in *my* area your filter would prevent you from getting those channels.

My 6412 III has firmware 12.13. How far behind am I? :(
I thought PIIIs were at 12.18 in the bay area, someone that has one will have to verify it though.

I thought PIIIs were at 12.18 in the bay area, someone that has one will have to verify it though.

i have 12.18... and the 5.1 issue bugs me to this day!!

Thanks for all this info! I seem to have found everything I've lost except for the extended KQED channels. KQED-HD used to be at 9.1, but I guess the psip went away for that as well (just yesterday or today), so I can no longer find that. I'm in Mountain View/94040.

Steve

I thought PIIIs were at 12.18 in the bay area, someone that has one will have to verify it though.
I think the majority of them are. I was surprised when I got mine back in November that it was at 12.13. I checked last night and it is still at 12.13.

If bmark says it, believe it.

If Comcast hoses the 550 systems, yet again....I just may have to give the folks at the Chronicle and Mercury News a call....the Olympics will make a great platform for some press...;)

I received an email from Mr. J the other day and I can verify that what Red Dana said in the KQED email is correct and from what I can nuke out from in between the lines, to get KQED full time will require all digital or be in an upgraded system ie. greater than 550 MHz. As it stands now KQED will be broadcasting 3 hours earlier in all areas.

As far as the Feb 9th rollout of Universal HD, I am still waiting to hear back on that but if it does happen on that date I will be very pleased but shocked and here's my reason why. The FCC requires that the cable companys give 30 days notice of any changes to the channel lineup and unless I missed it some where I have not seen any notice of channel changes. I'm sure no one would object if one day you wake up and there are new channels but would be very upset if your favorite channel disappeared during the night without notice that is the reason that there is that requirement.

There were other things in the email but they only pretain to the 550 MHz areas and right now I do not have permission to put it out but I can say to our areas, the 550 MHz systems, it's not as dire as it seems, we have not been forgotten. I wish I could say more but until I get permission I can not nor will I, but if you think about it why would I ( who is in an 550 MHz area) still be with Comcast if nothing was going to be done to improve our area ??

Laters,
Mikef5

As far as the Feb 9th rollout of Universal HD, I am still waiting to hear back on that but if it does happen on that date I will be very pleased but shocked and here's my reason why. The FCC requires that the cable companys give 30 days notice of any changes to the channel lineup and unless I missed it some where I have not seen any notice of channel changes. I'm sure no one would object if one day you wake up and there are new channels but would be very upset if your favorite channel disappeared during the night without notice that is the reason that there is that requirement.

I could be wrong but I believe the "30 day" policy only applies to network stations. The FCC has very little control over cable stations (i.e. stations you cannot get OTA) and I don't think they would be able to enforce this.

Thanks for all this info! I seem to have found everything I've lost except for the extended KQED channels. KQED-HD used to be at 9.1, but I guess the psip went away for that as well (just yesterday or today), so I can no longer find that. I'm in Mountain View/94040.

Steve

Here in Berkeley/94702 the digital KQEDs were at 117.2-117.6 last night. Also, ABC7-HD was at 117.1 and ABC-SD was at 117.7. A number of analog cable channels in the 3-16 range were digitally rebroadcast in the 98.1-98.5 range. These were on my Sony KDL-V40XBR1 LCD TV. However, my Sony DHG-HDD500 DVR still sees the digital KQEDs at 9.1-9.5 (it can also receive them at 117.2-117.6 if I tune them in manually), but it doesn't get a signal at 2.1, 5.1 or 11.1, and those stations are instead at 114.9, 114.7, and 107.1 respectively (but show up at their proper locations on my TV!) Things seem to change daily, so I've been setting my dvr to record any HD or digital programs from my antenna if I can. (I just have a standard cable subscription)

I could be wrong but I believe the "30 day" policy only applies to network stations. The FCC has very little control over cable stations (i.e. stations you cannot get OTA) and I don't think they would be able to enforce this.

I can only say what was told to me by Mr. J and I'm pretty sure it's Comcast's policy to give notice of any channel changes. They just took a weather channel off our area and added more Pay per View channels ( just what we needed :rolleyes: ) and that was in the 30 day period. I saw that notice on the box messages, but like I said if the Universal HD pops up I'll be happy but I doubt it will be on the 550 MHz system so until we get upgraded all we can do is sit and wait and keep bugging Comcast to upgrade our areas so we can get what the rest of the Bay Area gets and that's what I plan on doing :).

Laters,
Mikef5

Thanks Mikef5! Since I'm someone who is in a 550 MHz area any tidbit of news is appreciated (good or not).

There were other things in the email but they only pretain to the 550 MHz areas and right now I do not have permission to put it out but I can say to our areas, the 550 MHz systems, it's not as dire as it seems, we have not been forgotten. I wish I could say more but until I get permission I can not nor will I, but if you think about it why would I ( who is in an 550 MHz area) still be with Comcast if nothing was going to be done to improve our area ??

Laters,
Mikef5

I can only say what was told to me by Mr. J and I'm pretty sure it's Comcast's policy to give notice of any channel changes. They just took a weather channel off our area and added more Pay per View channels ( just what we needed :rolleyes: ) and that was in the 30 day period. I saw that notice on the box messages, but like I said if the Universal HD pops up I'll be happy but I doubt it will be on the 550 MHz system so until we get upgraded all we can do is sit and wait and keep bugging Comcast to upgrade our areas so we can get what the rest of the Bay Area gets and that's what I plan on doing :).

That makes sense, Mike. Like you said, if something comes up last-minute that most customers can benefit from (I stress "most") then I'm sure Comcast would be willing to bend their policy a bit.

There were other things in the email but they only pretain to the 550 MHz areas and right now I do not have permission to put it out but I can say to our areas, the 550 MHz systems, it's not as dire as it seems, we have not been forgotten. I wish I could say more but until I get permission I can not nor will I, but if you think about it why would I ( who is in an 550 MHz area) still be with Comcast if nothing was going to be done to improve our area ??

Laters,
Mikef5
As long as it pertains to all 550 areas, when you guys in the south bay got the INHDs we didn't get anything up here. :(

BTW, I sent you a PM.

Well Comcast has really fouled up the PSIP in Cupertino.
My Sony TV with QAM tuner, but no CC, used to tune 2.1, 5.1, 7.1, 11.1 and 9.1-5. Very nice.

A couple of weeks ago, 2.1, 5.1 and 11.1 all disappeared. I found them again at 79.2, 79.1, and 116.1, respectively.

Today, 9.1-5 have all disappeared. I can direct tune KQED on 117.2-6, but for some reason, my TV will not allow me to add them to it's memory. It won't discover them either. I can only get them by direct entry of the frequency number.

Earlier this week I sent an Email to Comcast about the lost of PSIP. Their first reply said it was the network's fault. I replied that was not correct as the network was sending the PSIP OTA quite well, and that three networks would not drop the PSIP all at once. Their second reply told me to check my signal quality (????). I replied again that they were not addressing the issue. Thier third message said they would forward my comments to someone. Of course, nothing has happened.

Waiting to see if this settles out.

Today, 9.1-5 have all disappeared. I can direct tune KQED on 117.2-6, but for some reason, my TV will not allow me to add them to it's memory. It won't discover them either. I can only get them by direct entry of the frequency number.
The loss of PSIP is likely a Comcast problem. That you can't add the direct RF to your TV's memory or scan for the channels is likely a bug in your TV. If you tried hard enough you could probably find a workaround. Worse case, I think if you factory reset the TV and rescanned, it should find the channels, but that is kind of drastic.

BTW The one thing I can think of giving your TV problems is that 117.1 and 117.2 (KGO-HD, KGO-SD) still have PSIP but 117.3-117.7 (KQED-HD/KQED-SD) lost PSIP last night. It is possible your TV is having problems with a single 256QAM channels that has mixed PSIP on non-PSIP.

sfhub published the ADS channels for his system. Here in Cupertino they are arranged differently.

The music channels are on 118.12 - 54
I edited the table that sfhub used for his area to show the channel lineup in Cupertino. Notice that KCSM is missing from this list????


Mhz cbl qam
585 3 84.1 KNTV - NBC
585 6 84.2 KICU - KICU
585 18 84.3 KSTS - Telemundo
585 10 84.4 KTEH - PBS
585 16 84.5 KKPX - Kkpx

735 2 114.1 KTVU - Fox
735 4 114.2 KRON - Kron
735 5 114.3 KPIX - CBS
735 7 114.4 KGO - ABC
735 9 114.5 KQED - PBS
735 14 114.6 KDTV - Univision
735 13 114.7 KBWB - WB
735 8 114.8 KTSF - Ktsf
735 19 114.9 KTNC - Ktnc
735 12 114.10 KBHK - UPN

I agree that the loss of PSIP is a Comcast problem. It started when the first started boradcasting the ADS channels. But getting them to look into it is the hard part. Well I tried.

Re-scanning for channels does not correct the missing channels problem. I have tried that. I don't know exactly what causes it, but I have noticed it for some time. Back in the days that ESPN-HD was un-encrypted, I could tune it directly (116.2), but not memorize it. KNTV was on the same channel (116) and it correctly tuned at 11.1. So mixing PSIP with invalid PSIP did not cause the problem.

Today, the only PSIP that works for me is 7.1. All the rest are at their actual channels assignments, except for those I cannot memorize. I wish the TV (Sony KDF55-WF655) had a way for me to re-arrange the order of channels in the memory. That would fix things. But of course it doesn't. Oh well, it is still a great picture.


The loss of PSIP is likely a Comcast problem. That you can't add the direct RF to your TV's memory or scan for the channels is likely a bug in your TV. If you tried hard enough you could probably find a workaround. Worse case, I think if you factory reset the TV and rescanned, it should find the channels, but that is kind of drastic.

BTW The one thing I can think of giving your TV problems is that 117.1 and 117.2 (KGO-HD, KGO-SD) still have PSIP but 117.3-117.7 (KQED-HD/KQED-SD) lost PSIP last night. It is possible your TV is having problems with a single 256QAM channels that has mixed PSIP on non-PSIP.

I edited the table that sfhub used for his area to show the channel lineup in Cupertino. Notice that KCSM is missing from this list????
I don't seem to be able to figure out what the reference to KCSM is regarding. I reread my post a few times :) and didn't see KCSM mentioned and I don't see it (or the appropriate replacement) in your updated list for Cupertino. It looks like the channels available in your area is the same, just ordered differently.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7051163&&#post7051163

Here on the San Mateo system, I'm not seeing any signal at all on rf114 and rf84 still seems to be all encrypted stuff. Anybody have word on when the ADS rollout will reach mid Pen.?

Anyone else just lose the east coast feed of SciFi? My guide data still shows the east coast times (as it should), but the shows are now 3 hours behind. I called a Comcast CSR to complain and he was clueless and said we always should have been getting the west coast feed, even though I've been getting the east coast feed and guide data for the last 2 years since I've lived here.

I have Digital Cable in Mountain View.

Just wanted to give you guys the heads up, in case you need to adjust your recordings for SciFi Friday.

Hopefully enough people calling to complain can get this resolved quickly.

Sorry. That was the point. It looks like they are not planning to offer KCSM as a digital channel.

And yeah. They re-ordered the channels down here. That was all I was trying to say.

Greg

I don't seem to be able to figure out what the reference to KCSM is regarding. I reread my post a few times :) and didn't see KCSM mentioned and I don't see it (or the appropriate replacement) in your updated list for Cupertino. It looks like the channels available in your area is the same, just ordered differently.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7051163&&#post7051163

Channel 726 for UNI-HD..?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7060242#post7060242
Universal HD coming to Comcast! (Olympics) - AVS Forum

PSIP on QAM is a bit of a problem. The starting point for PSIP is always PID 0x1ffb in an ATSC or QAM multiplex (channel). But what happens when there are two different channels in a QAM multiplex (for example, having KGO-DT and KQED-DT on QAM channel 117)? Both PSIP streams want to use PID 0x1ffb. If you let both PSIP streams use PID 0x1ffb, you'll end up with an undecipherable mess. There are only two viable options:

1) forward one stations PSIP.

2) forward no stations PSIP.

Ron

Don't know how they implemented it, but Comcast had PSIP working fine on QAM multiplex. Perhaps there is some extension (or alternate method we are labelling as PSIP) to deal with PSIP and QAM multiplex?

The following multiplex has worked fine for quite a while.

Mhz psip cbl qam
753 7.1 707 117.1 KGO-HD ABC HD
753 7.2 194 117.2 KGO-DT ABC DT
753 9.1 709 117.3 KQED-DT KQED HD
753 9.2 189 117.4 KQED-E KQED Encore
753 9.3 190 117.5 KQED-W KQED World
753 9.4 191 117.6 KQED-L KQED Life
753 9.5 192 117.7 KQED-K KQED Kids

Actually, isn't KGO-DT on 117.7, with all the KQED subs shifted up one from where you show them? That's how it appears here anyway.

Actually, isn't KGO-DT on 117.7, with all the KQED subs shifted up one from where you show them? That's how it appears here anyway.
I've noticed my Sharp LC-45GX6U labels the subchannels in different order than my MyHD MDP-130. What I posted was a scan of the channels from 2 days ago using the Sharp QAM tuner. I've also noticed that even if the subchannels shift around a little, somehow tuning to the old channels often self corrects underneath the hoods. At least that's what it appears to do.

I often find after rescanning, the subchannels bounce around a little (within the same channel). 117 does this a lot. 116 did also.

I wonder if there is some other unique key that is tied to each stream which would allow some minor self correction.

I've noticed my Sharp LC-45GX6U labels the subchannels in different order than my MyHD MDP-130. What I posted was a scan of the channels from 2 days ago using the Sharp QAM tuner. I've also noticed that even if the subchannels shift around a little, somehow tuning to the old channels often self corrects underneath the hoods. At least that's what it appears to do.

I often find after rescanning, the subchannels bounce around a little (within the same channel). 117 does this a lot. 116 did also.

I wonder if there is some other unique key that is tied to each stream which would allow some minor self correction.You're right, the order does appear to have to do with who's doing the counting. :)

I attach the TSReader analysis of today's ch 117 for Ron or anyone else interested to see how the PSIP of this dual channel stream is arranged.

If bmark says it, believe it.

If Comcast hoses the 550 systems, yet again....I just may have to give the folks at the Chronicle and Mercury News a call....the Olympics will make a great platform for some press...;)
You know, I don't even think Comcast cares about negative press.

There were other things in the email but they only pretain to the 550 MHz areas and right now I do not have permission to put it out but I can say to our areas, the 550 MHz systems, it's not as dire as it seems, we have not been forgotten.
Maybe some of them, but I'm pretty sure Santa Rosa has been forgotten completely. How long has it been since there has been *any* change here? The government works faster than this.

... If Comcast hoses the 550 systems, yet again....I just may have to give the folks at the Chronicle and Mercury News a call....the Olympics will make a great platform for some press...;)

Another perspective is that Comcast is "hosing" the Bay area subscribers who have available bandwith by not offering stations available in other Comcast markets. And I believe Bay area Comcast subscribers in that category (>500 MHz systems) are a significant majority of the market. Now that would make an interesting article!

web

Any indications of Verizon rolling out FIOS out here? Beyond a few isolated areas like Los Gatos where they offered POTS and DSL?

AT&T is also rolling out video but FIOS sounds like way more bandwidth.

Another perspective is that Comcast is "hosing" the Bay area subscribers who have available bandwith by not offering stations available in other Comcast markets. And I believe Bay area Comcast subscribers in that category (>500 MHz systems) are a significant majority of the market. Now that would make an interesting article!

web
They are the majority, I think only 14% or 16% of the systems in the bay area are at 550 or less, or was it cities, I don't remember, but yes, it would make for an interesting article where the BW strapped systems are wagging the big systems tail. It's shameful that the 550 systems can't even see their local sports teams in HD. The Yankees have become my local team since I can see them in HD 2-3 times a week on DirecTV. :p

The Yankees have become my local team since I can see them in HD 2-3 times a week on DirecTV. :p

For shame!!!

You're right, the order does appear to have to do with who's doing the counting. :)

I attach the TSReader analysis of today's ch 117 for Ron or anyone else interested to see how the PSIP of this dual channel stream is arranged.
Thanks, that was very helpful. It looks like the PSIP streams are regenerated on QAM. The clue is that the modulation mode has been changed from 8VSB to "SCTE_mode_2" (QAM). So this means that there is some kind of device doing the regeneration and it probably needs to be programmed properly (which I'm guessing is why it worked before, but not now).

Ron

Thanks, that was very helpful. It looks like the PSIP streams are regenerated on QAM. The clue is that the modulation mode has been changed from 8VSB to "SCTE_mode_2" (QAM). So this means that there is some kind of device doing the regeneration and it probably needs to be programmed properly (which I'm guessing is why it worked before, but not now).

RonYou mean that the PID header spec for modulation mode was changed, yes. ;)

I've seen cases where it wasn't changed...one version of FusionHDTV sw took the misguided approach of resetting its mode to match the PSIP, so that had disastrous consequences with those QAM channels. :D

The one that flummoxed me was the NY OTA station whose PSIP proclaimed its broadcast to be "SCTE_mode_2"! :eek: That also bombed the Fusion sw, of course.

For shame!!!
Isn't it though? If I'm in the market for say a new car, I'll probably be buying it in New York City. :D

For the last hour or so I am getting enormous breakup on all Comcast cable channels--horizontal squares across the screen, about 8 to 10 of them. It is not on OTA, so seems like a Comcast transmission problem. Anybody else?

For the last hour or so I am getting enormous breakup on all Comcast cable channels--horizontal squares across the screen, about 8 to 10 of them. It is not on OTA, so seems like a Comcast transmission problem. Anybody else?

Are they green squares? I had something earlier today. A power cycle, and only that, fixes it.

Are they green squares? I had something earlier today. A power cycle, and only that, fixes it.

Thanks. I called Comcast (and finally got in the cue after ~5 tries), and they sent a 'hit' that cleared it up. I had tried turning the stb 'off' and back 'on', but that did not do the job. Are you saying that if I had unplugged the stb, and then plugged it back in, that would have done the job? That would certainly be better than having to call CC and get them to do the 'hit'.

Thanks. I called Comcast (and finally got in the cue after ~5 tries), and they sent a 'hit' that cleared it up. I had tried turning the stb 'off' and back 'on', but that did not do the job. Are you saying that if I had unplugged the stb, and then plugged it back in, that would have done the job? That would certainly be better than having to call CC and get them to do the 'hit'.

Yes, unplug the box and then replug it.

sky 7 hd?? does that mean only the helicopter shots are in HD? or is the studio gonna be in HD too?? this is exciting either way.

also would someone explain to me why our ABC 7 logo looks exactly the same as the KABC in LA?

As long as it pertains to all 550 areas, when you guys in the south bay got the INHDs we didn't get anything up here. :(

You forget that we got HSI. :p

Kevin

also would someone explain to me why our ABC 7 logo looks exactly the same as the KABC in LA?

ABC owns both stations, I am pretty sure.

Kevin

If you had WABC New York, it would look exactly the same as well. ABC owns it as well.

Interesting article in today's Chronicle regarding IPTV and it's potential in Bay Area.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/06/BUGG4H2GGO1.DTL

There's even a "rebuttal quote" from our good friend Andrew Johnson.

best news ever... i can't wait for the comcast vs att showdown... heavy discounting and more content please!

Anyone have a problem recording Gray's Anatomy after the Super Bowl last night? I had previously set it to record as a recurring series, but the guide didn't seem to recognize it in this earlier different time slot. So I had to manually "red-dot" it (and the show after to pickup the last 15 minutes), but the S.B. ran over about 15 minutes into the G.A. time frame and that 15 minute run-over was the only part recorded, then it quit! At least I got to see the last 15 minutes (though the whole show seemed not worth watching anyway (editorial comment!).

Anyone have a problem recording Gray's Anatomy after the Super Bowl last night? I had previously set it to record as a recurring series, but the guide didn't seem to recognize it in this earlier different time slot. So I had to manually "red-dot" it (and the show after to pickup the last 15 minutes), but the S.B. ran over about 15 minutes into the G.A. time frame and that 15 minute run-over was the only part recorded, then it quit! At least I got to see the last 15 minutes (though the whole show seemed not worth watching anyway (editorial comment!).


rule of thumb is... sports always takes more time than the guide says. record the show on the guide's time slot as well as the subsequent show, that way you are at least covering for a long game. there is no way i can think of of getting a clean recording of just the show if it is contingent on a game ending without physically being there and manually recording it.

The rumor of Universal HD coming to the Bay Area is not a rumor. I just received the ok to confirm that it is not a rumor but a fact. Here is a little question and answer I had with Mr. J.

____________________________________________________________ __________

Q--Does that imply that sometime after the Feb to April time frame that the
implementation of digital simulcasting will begin in the Bay Area or is in
progress now

A-- Both. It is a multi-phased operation that is following a strict implementation process resulting in a new network protocol that we will use to transmit the signals on our local network. At the end of the process, ADS will be up and running, we will begin to recapture bandwidth and launch new channels.

Q-- Some people in the AVS forums are interested in getting Universal HD in advance of the Olympics.

A--On February 9th, the day before opening ceremonies, we will launch Universal HD in the Bay Area. It will be located on Channel 726. And, since you are painfully aware of the bandwidth constraints we face in Los Gatos, Saratoga and Milpitas, we will not be able to launch the channel there or in the other 550 MHz systems in the Bay Area. Our ADS work described above will start to tackle the bandwidth issue in 550 MHz systems.

Q-- Speaking of the Olympics, will INHD be showing some of the events or will that only be with NBC and their coverage.

A--Given the information I've seen from NBC, no.

____________________________________________________________ __________

So good news to the people that have the bandwidth but not for us in the 550 MHz systems until the conversion to all digital gets done but at least it has started and there is some light at the end of the tunnel for us. So for now we of the bandwidth starved areas will have to watch the NBC coverage of the Olympics but he did say not to give up hope that there were other things in the works but he wouldn't say much more than that.
With the prospect of Light Speed coming to the Bay Area I think that might add a sense of urgency for Comcast to get this thing done sooner than later. So enjoy the Olympics for those that can get it, as for me I can't wait for baseball season to start :)

Laters,
Mikef5

Interesting article in today's Chronicle regarding IPTV and it's potential in Bay Area.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/06/BUGG4H2GGO1.DTL

There's even a "rebuttal quote" from our good friend Andrew Johnson.
Interesting article.

"AT&T is spending years and billions of dollars to imitate a network that Comcast has already built," Comcast spokesman Andrew Johnson said in a statement. "We've seen nothing ... that we can't exceed."

Really..?

But the real highlight for him hasn't really been IPTV. Instead, it came after SureWest introduced more than a dozen high-definition channels on IPTV last fall.

;)

The rumor of Universal HD coming to the Bay Area is not a rumor. I just received the ok to confirm that it is not a rumor but a fact. Here is a little question and answer I had with Mr. J.

____________________________________________________________ __________

Q--Does that imply that sometime after the Feb to April time frame that the
implementation of digital simulcasting will begin in the Bay Area or is in
progress now

A-- Both. It is a multi-phased operation that is following a strict implementation process resulting in a new network protocol that we will use to transmit the signals on our local network. At the end of the process, ADS will be up and running, we will begin to recapture bandwidth and launch new channels.

Q-- Some people in the AVS forums are interested in getting Universal HD in advance of the Olympics.

A--On February 9th, the day before opening ceremonies, we will launch Universal HD in the Bay Area. It will be located on Channel 726. And, since you are painfully aware of the bandwidth constraints we face in Los Gatos, Saratoga and Milpitas, we will not be able to launch the channel there or in the other 550 MHz systems in the Bay Area. Our ADS work described above will start to tackle the bandwidth issue in 550 MHz systems.

Q-- Speaking of the Olympics, will INHD be showing some of the events or will that only be with NBC and their coverage.

A--Given the information I've seen from NBC, no.

____________________________________________________________ __________

So good news to the people that have the bandwidth but not for us in the 550 MHz systems until the conversion to all digital gets done but at least it has started and there is some light at the end of the tunnel for us. So for now we of the bandwidth starved areas will have to watch the NBC coverage of the Olympics but he did say not to give up hope that there were other things in the works but he wouldn't say much more than that.
With the prospect of Light Speed coming to the Bay Area I think that might add a sense of urgency for Comcast to get this thing done sooner than later. So enjoy the Olympics for those that can get it, as for me I can't wait for baseball season to start :)

Laters,
Mikef5

Thanks for the info Mike.

Question, can you ask Mr. J how the in the hell they are going to do ADS on 550 systems...? There's no room as it is...do they plan to straight convert some Expanded Basic to digital...instead of simulcasting them?

The rumor of Universal HD coming to the Bay Area is not a rumor. I just received the ok to confirm that it is not a rumor but a fact. Here is a little question and answer I had with Mr. J.

____________________________________________________________ __________


Q-- Some people in the AVS forums are interested in getting Universal HD in advance of the Olympics.

A--On February 9th, the day before opening ceremonies, we will launch Universal HD in the Bay Area. It will be located on Channel 726. And, since you are painfully aware of the bandwidth constraints we face in Los Gatos, Saratoga and Milpitas, we will not be able to launch the channel there or in the other 550 MHz systems in the Bay Area. Our ADS work described above will start to tackle the bandwidth issue in 550 MHz systems.

Q-- Speaking of the Olympics, will INHD be showing some of the events or will that only be with NBC and their coverage.

A--Given the information I've seen from NBC, no.

This IS good news indeed, but I think I'm missing something, or maybe I'm just thick... :p
If the Olympics are going to be shown on NBC only, why would people be anxious to get Universal-HD before the Olympics begin?

This IS good news indeed, but I think I'm missing something, or maybe I'm just thick... :p
If the Olympics are going to be shown on NBC only, why would people be anxious to get Universal-HD before the Olympics begin?
Battlestar Galactica in HD..? :)

Battlestar Galactica in HD..? :)

That was my first thought. Then I looked at the Universal HD website and saw they were several episodes behind on BSG. I love HD, but I don't intend to wait a month to watch new episodes.

UHD is part of the NBC Univeral Family. It will be showing a lot of Olympic coverage not carrier on NBC in HD>

That was my first thought. Then I looked at the Universal HD website and saw they were several episodes behind on BSG. I love HD, but I don't intend to wait a month to watch new episodes.
Yes, UHD is usually a half season behind, some wait but I think most don't, I don't.

UHD will simulcast whatever Olympic coverage is on NBC/UNI's cable networks.

yay new HD channel!!!

UHD is part of the NBC Univeral Family. It will be showing a lot of Olympic coverage not carrier on NBC in HD>
Got it...thanks! ;)

UHD will simulcast whatever Olympic coverage is on NBC/UNI's cable networks.
Will it be a true simulcast, or will they offer stuff that NBC is NOT showing at all? Or maybe the same stuff, but time-shifted?

Thanks for the info Mike.

Question, can you ask Mr. J how the in the hell they are going to do ADS on 550 systems...? There's no room as it is...do they plan to straight convert some Expanded Basic to digital...instead of simulcasting them?

If I remember right, and I could be wrong, I believe that there IS room specifically set aside to do this on our systems. That's why they don't want to add more channels on our systems until the conversion is completed or at least until they can start recovering some of the band width. Also, they are doing some type of equipment change to the headends to help facilitate the transition to all digital. Again, this is MY speculaltion on what is being done, just from what I've been able to nuke out from other sources. For some reason Comcast doesn't like to put things out to the general public until the last minute, if it were me I'd be hyping up what's going to be done just to let my customers know what's going on and what to expect down the line and to squash any thing that the competition might be coming up with. Sort of like launching a preemptive strike :eek: .

Laters,
Mikef5

I would be a little more forthcoming as well, especially with the competition really starting to heat up, with DirecTV providing HD local, Dish providing HD local in about 2 mos and the IPTV stuff from ATT.

Dish HD, the 1920x1080i stuff, is outstanding PQ-wise so when they get local HD going it will be a real alternative to Comcast.

I think part of the problem with Comcast is they really have no idea how long all of the changes will take, and the pessimist in me says that we 550 folks won't see any real change for at least 6-9 mos, if that, based on past changes(or complete lack thereof. :p ).

Will it be a true simulcast, or will they offer stuff that NBC is NOT showing at all? Or maybe the same stuff, but time-shifted?
UNI-HD, from what I've read, will simulcast stuff from USA Network, MSNBC and CNBC. USA is scheduled to have different content than NBC, the main network feed. There is not supposed to be anything time-shifted as it was for the last Olympics, where the stuff was delayed 24 hrs before it was on UNI-HD.

There's a schedule posted somewhere on this forum but I don't recall where it is...

Here's the schedule:
http://www.hdsportsguide.com/olympics.php

UHD is part of the NBC Univeral Family. It will be showing a lot of Olympic coverage not carrier on NBC in HD>
My understanding is that ALL NBC Olympics coverage will be the same for HD as it is for SD...such that there is no separate HD feed this time.

I would be a little more forthcoming as well, especially with the competition really starting to heat up, with DirecTV providing HD local, Dish providing HD local in about 2 mos and the IPTV stuff from ATT.

Dish HD, the 1920x1080i stuff, is outstanding PQ-wise so when they get local HD going it will be a real alternative to Comcast.

I think part of the problem with Comcast is they really have no idea how long all of the changes will take, and the pessimist in me says that we 550 folks won't see any real change for at least 6-9 mos, if that, based on past changes(or complete lack thereof. :p ).
If I was Comcast I'd be more worried about ATT and their IPTV ( Project Light Speed). They have deep pockets and if they can offer a total bundle at a reasonable price it could be an attractive alternative.

As far as a time frame, they really can't give one for a couple of reasons. One, you never know what can go wrong or what could go right, so delays are norm for the course. Second, if you give a time frame and miss it, you'll get slammed for not doing what you said you were going to do and do it in the time you said you would. So you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. But if you read Red Dana's email, the time frame they give is good for getting the hardware up and going if nothing goes wrong but we all know that won't be the case so you just don't know for sure. My uneducated guess would be 4 to 6 months and again just a guess. So hope for the best but expect the worse :p

Laters,
Mikef5

Here's the schedule:
http://www.hdsportsguide.com/olympics.php
That's it. :)

Here's a schedule of every event, it's not a TV schedule though.

http://www.torino2006.org/ENG/IDF/calendario_gare.pdf
calendario_gare.pdf (application/pdf Object)

UPDATE to the Universal HD roll out !!!!!!!

Just got an email from Mr. J. who wanted to clear up somethings about Universal HD and the Olympics so here it is.........

____________________________________________________________ ___________

Ok to post on the Forum.....

(1) Given a number of questions we have received there is some need to clarify the status of Universal HD after the Olympics conclude. At the moment, we do not have the rights to cablecast Universal HD full-time, but we were able to secure the rights to put the channel on our line-up during the Olympics.

(2) Instead of using Channel 726 for the Universal HD Olympic programming we have decided to use Channel 720, the spot where INHD2 sits so more cable systems can carry the Olympic Games.

(So that means Los Gatos, Saratoga and Milpitas and other 550 MHz systems that carry INHD2 will see the Olympics. My thanks to MikeF5 for bringing this suggestion to my attention)

Regular scheduled programming on INHD2 will resume after the Olympics.

No Fox Sports Net Bay Area HD programming is scheduled to air during the Olympics.

(3) The technical work on establishing the foundation for our All Digital Simulcast continues. As my earlier email indicated, this will be a lengthy process because so much of the work takes place in the maintenance window which typically runs from 1:00am to 5:00am. The ADS network we are putting in place will ultimately result in freeing up bandwidth to add more products and services, including more video and HD channels.
____________________________________________________________ _________

So it looks like the contract with Universal HD is not final but enough so they can show the Olympics and even include some of the 550 MHz systems. So more people will be able to see what Universal HD has to offer since it's going to be shown on 720 instead of 726 . I guess that's what he meant by not giving up hope on the Olympics. Kudos to Comcast on trying to get the most people they could for the Olympics......

Sorry Keenan..... I don't know what to tell you and the other Santa Rosa people. I have a bad feeling Santa Rosa has done a Walnut Creek or there is some problem with Santa Rosa that I just can't find anything about but I'll keep trying. My only suggestion is to go to the Franchise Board and find out what's going on with Comcast.

Laters,
Mikef5

that's not a channel addition!! that's subtraction then addition, then subtract and add back after the olympics!!

no warriors for 3 weeks. thanks.

So good news to the people that have the bandwidth but not for us in the 550 MHz systems until the conversion to all digital gets done but at least it has started

Surprise....the 550Mhz folks are screwed again!

For those who are already receiving the analog stations digitally, are those stations being transmitted in unencrypted or encrypted QAM?

Thanks,
Kevin