Do a "QAM channel missing" search in the 71 owners thread to see how I solved this problem. I might have posted the solution in this thread also, in the early December time frame.

Hi clau,
Your response worked. Great! This is what i did:

1. Found out my 2-1, 5-1 channels are on channel 79
www . silicondust . com/hdhomerun/lineupui?Cmd=LocationProgramsWeb&Country=US&Postcode=94089

2. turned on the TV. Noted that there was no channel 2-1 in the channel list.

3. switched to channel 79 using the remote

4. The next second it automatically went to channel 2-1

5. Saw the channel list. It alos had 5-1

Going to call samsung and reference SFO AVS forum thread. They dont seem to be aware of the QAM tuner problem. This very much sounds like a softwrae problem.

Hi clau,
Your response worked. Great! This is what i did:

1. Found out my 2-1, 5-1 channels are on channel 79
www . silicondust . com/hdhomerun/lineupui?Cmd=LocationProgramsWeb&Country=US&Postcode=94089

2. turned on the TV. Noted that there was no channel 2-1 in the channel list.

3. switched to channel 79 using the remote

4. The next second it automatically went to channel 2-1

5. Saw the channel list. It alos had 5-1

Going to call samsung and reference SFO AVS forum thread. They dont seem to be aware of the QAM tuner problem. This very much sounds like a softwrae problem.

Yeah, happy that it works for you, too. It is definitely a SW issue. In the '65/61 sets, Samsung released a FW update to fix that particular QAM problem. If more people complain to Samsung, they'll look into it.

When I called Samsung about this, the Tier-2 CSR insisted that the '71 series have weak QAM tuners :).

Has anyone found any of the QAM UNKNOWN (PSIP guide names) channels to be usable for HDHomeRun? Im only using the ones that are labeled currently.

Don't you just love competition? This sort of package has only been a dream until now, hopefully Comcast will have a like offering soon. :)

Dish to offer 40 HD channels (no SD) for $29.99/month!
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=974161

Does anyone have a Comcast price list?

Someone posted pdf in earlier posts. 6.95/mo for another CableCard is correct according to price list.

All,

I'm currently looking for a S stream cable card for my sharp D5U, comcast has only M cards available now, if any of u is considering return ur S stream card, is it possible u can let me know so that I might be able to get this card for my TV?

For some reason, the sharp seems only working with the S card,(I previous had S card installed), tried 3 M cards, even the technician came, it didn't work, the TV keeps rebooting for some reason :mad:

thx
BXZ

Don't you just love competition? This sort of package has only been a dream until now, hopefully Comcast will have a like offering soon. :)

Dish to offer 40 HD channels (no SD) for $29.99/month!
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=974161

This is exactly why I'm switching -- Comcast in my neighborhood is a joke. I finally took action after wondering for so long: why am I paying the premium rate for such low-rate service? I only get a few HD channels in my house, which is absurd considering I'm paying what everyone else does for more channels. I've been holding out in hopes they'd upgrade, but it's taking too long. After talking with DirecTV customers around here, I made the jump after getting what I thought was a good deal from their sales rep.

Comcast did send me a $10 "loyalty" coupon in the mail the other day. Perhaps they're reading my posts here.

This is exactly why I'm switching -- Comcast in my neighborhood is a joke. I finally took action after wondering for so long: why am I paying the premium rate for such low-rate service? I only get a few HD channels in my house, which is absurd considering I'm paying what everyone else does for more channels. I've been holding out in hopes they'd upgrade, but it's taking too long. After talking with DirecTV customers around here, I made the jump after getting what I thought was a good deal from their sales rep.

Comcast did send me a $10 "loyalty" coupon in the mail the other day. Perhaps they're reading my posts here.

What sort of deal did you get? If you only get the $29.99/month package, do you still get the appropriate installation rebates, free boxes, etc?

What sort of deal did you get? If you only get the $29.99/month package, do you still get the appropriate installation rebates, free boxes, etc?

I think he means he switched to D*, not Dish, D* doesn't have an HD-only package, yet...

Does anyone experience constant pixelation issues with TBS-HD Channel 735? I've checked all of the connections but to no avail. It is the only channel in the HD line-up that has these problems.

From TVWeek

January 10, 2008
Young Plans to Sell KRON

By Michele Greppi

Young Broadcasting plans to sell San Francisco’s KRON-TV, the largest of its 10 stations.
Young said Thursday that it has retained financial advisors Moelis & Co. to head up the process leading to a sale, which the group hopes to conclude in the first quarter of this year.

“Our decision to sell is based on the high level of interest in the property that we have received, Young Chairman Vincent Young said in a statement. “It is purely a strategic economic decision, allowing us to benefit from the proceeds of the sale to further our future corporate initiatives.”

Young, which saw its revenue drop more than 11 percent in the third quarter of 2007, bought KRON in 2000 for a record $823 million and then saw the value of the then-powerful station plummet after it lost its NBC affiliation. The station now is affiliated with the struggling MyNetworkTV.

(Editor: Baumann)

http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/01/young_broadcasting_plans_to_se.php
Young Plans to Sell KRON - TVWeek - News

What a screwup that was, losing the NBC affiliate designation.

I think he means he switched to D*, not Dish, D* doesn't have an HD-only package, yet...

Ahh...gotcha.

What a screwup that was, losing the NBC affiliate designation.

Definitely, station lost 75% of it's value, per Wiki, it was once the No.2 NBC station in the country.

Update on the upgrades for Milpitas and Sunnyvale areas

Just a quick update on the status of upgrades for the Milpitas and Sunnyvale areas..... Yes you have not been forgotten ;)

For release to the Forums
____________________________________________________________ ___

In Milpitas we have 32 nodes, 29 nodes have launched and we are on
target to complete the last three nodes on 1/16/08. We now have in
place 194.24 miles of fiber backbone in Milpitas.

In Sunnyvale we have 82 nodes, 36 nodes have launched and we should have
all of Sunnyvale completed by Spring. We have 227 miles of the 306
total miles of fiber in place as of today.

____________________________________________________________ ___

So it looks like Milpitas will be totally done this month and Sunnyvale by spring time. If I can find out a firmer date on Sunnyvale I'll let you know but it will be done.

I'm checking on a couple of other things that have been brought up in the forum but Mr. J. is going to be gone from the area for a couple of days so that's sort of in a holding pattern for now.

As for the other areas that are being upgraded, that's one of the things I'm checking on and I'll post about that when I get more info.

Laters,
Mikef5

Definitely, station lost 75% of it's value, per Wiki, it was once the No.2 NBC station in the country.

I'll offer $50 and a 2 for 1 coupon at Denny's.

I thought the M card needed to be specifically supported by the device you use it with. Can anyone clarify?

All,

I'm currently looking for a S stream cable card for my sharp D5U, comcast has only M cards available now, if any of u is considering return ur S stream card, is it possible u can let me know so that I might be able to get this card for my TV?

For some reason, the sharp seems only working with the S card,(I previous had S card installed), tried 3 M cards, even the technician came, it didn't work, the TV keeps rebooting for some reason :mad:

thx
BXZ

I thought the M card needed to be specifically supported by the device you use it with. Can anyone clarify?

Yes. The original TiVo S3 software could not use the M-Card at all, and an update was released to accept the M-Card, but for single stream only.

Don't you just love competition? This sort of package has only been a dream until now, hopefully Comcast will have a like offering soon. :)


No, because it reminds that without competition, Comcast does nothing.

Case-in-point: Blast! (16mbps down/2mbps up), (NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH POWERBOOST) if offered where Comcast competes with FIOS, but not here of course.

And Comcast is going to start DOCSIS 3.0 rollout soon, and expects to be in 20% of Comcast territory by the end of the 2008. What are the chances we'll be in that 20%? Not much, because of lack of competition.

"FTTP or DOCSIS 3.0 or Bust." That should be our motto.

Just a quick update on the status of upgrades for the Milpitas and Sunnyvale areas..... Yes you have not been forgotten ;)

For release to the Forums
____________________________________________________________ ___

In Milpitas we have 32 nodes, 29 nodes have launched and we are on
target to complete the last three nodes on 1/16/08. We now have in
place 194.24 miles of fiber backbone in Milpitas.

____________________________________________________________ ___

So it looks like Milpitas will be totally done this month and Sunnyvale by spring time. Maybe when the upgrade is complete, they will bother to send the correct updated Milpitas lineup to Tribune so TiVo will have programming info for all the new channels. I put in a lineup request on Nov. 22, and I'm told it is still pending. Currently, guided setup is broken in Milpitas, since one of the channel it keys on is TVGuide (11). It thinks we get it, but we don't, so it will pick the wrong lineup. I had to manually select the correct one.

Yes. The original TiVo S3 software could not use the M-Card at all, and an update was released to accept the M-Card, but for single stream only.But note that the TiVoHD does work in multi-stream mode with M-cards.

Not sure if you have limited basic only or limited basic + something else.

If you receive any channels with copy protection (additional layer beyond encryption) then be sure to get your card "paired". Activation gets you the encrypted channels that are CCI=0x00. Pairing gets you the encrypted channels with CCI=non-zero. If you don't get any of the latter it doesn't matter much other than being thorough.

Usually the CCI=non-zero stuff is for the movie channels, but it configuration is area-dependent.

Limited basic ~$15. I wanted to watch city council meetings. We have DirecTV for Comedy Central, Discovery HD, etc.

Can you please name an example of a channel that would need "pairing"? We are upgrading DirecTV, but we want to stay ready to make the switch to Comcast if the offerings after the rebuild are a better deal. So I would like to be in the know.

I saw CableCom trucks and a giant spool of cable on my street this week. I hope that's a good sign.

Katy Franz
94086

And Los Gatos????



Update on the upgrades for Milpitas and Sunnyvale areas

Just a quick update on the status of upgrades for the Milpitas and Sunnyvale areas..... Yes you have not been forgotten ;)

For release to the Forums
____________________________________________________________ ___

In Milpitas we have 32 nodes, 29 nodes have launched and we are on
target to complete the last three nodes on 1/16/08. We now have in
place 194.24 miles of fiber backbone in Milpitas.

In Sunnyvale we have 82 nodes, 36 nodes have launched and we should have
all of Sunnyvale completed by Spring. We have 227 miles of the 306
total miles of fiber in place as of today.

____________________________________________________________ ___

So it looks like Milpitas will be totally done this month and Sunnyvale by spring time. If I can find out a firmer date on Sunnyvale I'll let you know but it will be done.

I'm checking on a couple of other things that have been brought up in the forum but Mr. J. is going to be gone from the area for a couple of days so that's sort of in a holding pattern for now.

As for the other areas that are being upgraded, that's one of the things I'm checking on and I'll post about that when I get more info.

Laters,
Mikef5

Mikef5, can you also ask Mr. J about upgrade status in the Hayward/San Lorenzo area?

No, because it reminds that without competition, Comcast does nothing.

Case-in-point: Blast! (16mbps down/2mbps up), (NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH POWERBOOST) if offered where Comcast competes with FIOS, but not here of course.

And Comcast is going to start DOCSIS 3.0 rollout soon, and expects to be in 20% of Comcast territory by the end of the 2008. What are the chances we'll be in that 20%? Not much, because of lack of competition.

"FTTP or DOCSIS 3.0 or Bust." That should be our motto.

The SF bay area does always seem to be one of the very last Comcast regions to get new products. I could be mistaken, but I believe that the bay area is one of Comcast's most diverse regions when talking about different systems from different previous providers which is probably contributing to a slower upgrade path. I know that the Santa Rosa alone had 3 different providers at any given time before Comcast came to town.

Maybe when all the 550MHz systems are upgraded we'll start getting faster rollouts of new services/channels, of course, that upgrade has been noted to take until the end of this year, depending on the area.

Mikef5, can you also ask Mr. J about upgrade status in the Hayward/San Lorenzo area?

D-Real,

I will ask but they are pretty tight lipped about giving out dates for things they are doing, mainly because the competition reads this forum and if they don't make the date they get PO'd customers so they try to just give out general time frames ( just like the competition does ).

Have you received the upgrade letter yet ??

If you have followed the way the upgrades have gone you can see a pattern in how it's being implemented. So, if I lived in Hayward I'd be looking to see if there are trucks working ( pulling fiber cable ) in my area ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

The SF bay area does always seem to be one of the very last Comcast regions to get new products. I could be mistaken, but I believe that the bay area is one of Comcast's most diverse regions when talking about different systems from different previous providers which is probably contributing to a slower upgrade path. I know that the Santa Rosa alone had 3 different providers at any given time before Comcast came to town.

Maybe when all the 550MHz systems are upgraded we'll start getting faster rollouts of new services/channels, of course, that upgrade has been noted to take until the end of this year, depending on the area.

Keenan pretty much hits the nail on the head. The last 2 owners of this cable area ( TCI and AT&T ) did nothing in the way of doing any meaningful upgrades to this area and those that they did do they did half-assed, Santa Rosa is a prime example. They have a head end that is partially upgraded, sort of a cross between 550 MHz and 750 MHz but they can't use most of that bandwidth because the upgrades to do that were never completed properly. Comcast now has to go through a lot of our areas and do the necessary upgrades that have to be done to get all our areas up to snuff. Once that is done, I'm sure we'll see a turnaround in product additions to our area. But it is going to take some time, a lot of the work is pulling new fiber cable and doing upgrades to the different head ends, which is no easy task, but Comcast is getting it done.

Personally, I don't want to be one of the areas that they roll things out in, at least for some things. They just released the Tivo/Comcast software guide on the East coast and a lot of the users that have got it are not having a pleasant experience with it. Mostly the comments have been, nice but still is buggy. So in this instance I would prefer others do the beta testing and find all the bugs before it gets here on the Last Coast. ;)
Now if they want to roll out new hardware in this area, I'm all for doing that :)

Laters,
Mikef5

A "DT 101" question. My Sony 32" (KLV-S32A10) LCD doesn't have a QAM tuner. If I remove the Comcast settop and plug the TV directly to the cable, will it only tune in analog signals? I'd try this, but I'm not sure which channels are analog, which are digital, beyond the obvious 7xx range. (I'm thinking of giving the set to my mother, by 2/09. She currently has this set-up and is settop-averse.) Thanks!

Barte,

If the TV doesn't have a QAM tuner it will only get the analog channels 2-99.

Thanks for asking. I totally understand why they don't reveal specific dates, I'd be happy with just a hint of info :) I got my upgrade letter back in late Aug/early Sept so I'm curious to see how things are rolling along.

I saw trucks working around the area in the fall and digging up the street so I know a lot of that work has already been done.

Any glimmer of hope on timing would be great.

Maybe when the upgrade is complete, they will bother to send the correct updated Milpitas lineup to Tribune so TiVo will have programming info for all the new channels. I put in a lineup request on Nov. 22, and I'm told it is still pending. Currently, guided setup is broken in Milpitas, since one of the channel it keys on is TVGuide (11). It thinks we get it, but we don't, so it will pick the wrong lineup. I had to manually select the correct one.

I'm in a similar position as you (although perhaps for longer) as Sunnyvale is still mid-upgrade, and apparently my node is among the upgraded ones. I sent a lineup request a few days ago to TiVo, but I suspect they're in a difficult position - if I recall correctly, they do lineups by zipcode, not by node, so they can't fix mine without breaking someone else's until all of the zipcode is upgraded.

I am wondering if I should just change my zipcode to something close by that TiVo thinks is the full lineup (Mtn View or Santa Clara, perhaps) so the S3 gets tricked into using the "right" lineup. But first I'll query over on TC, and also give TiVo a little time to respond to my lineup request, before doing something so drastic and hackish. Since 90% of my recording is on network HD or FSN-HD - both correctly mapped and working - the missing guide data / mismapped channels is merely an annoyance to me for now.

I was upgraded in Hayward earlier this week. Here is my new HD channel line up. Is this what all of the 750+ Mhz systems in the bay area have?

700 HD on Demand
701 HD on Demand 2
702 KTVUD
703 DKNTV
704 KROND
705 KPIXD
706 KICUD
707 KGOHD
709 KQEDH
712 KBCWD
720 FSNHD
722 VS/GLF
724 ESPND
725 ES2HD
730 NFLHD
734 A&EHD
735 TBSHD
737 TNTHD
738 USAHD
739 UDH
740 MOJHD
743 MHD
746 HGTVD
750 DISHD
754 HDT
757 NGCHD
758 HISTD
770 HBOHD
780 S-HDw
785 SHOHD
792 MXHDW

Yeah, happy that it works for you, too. It is definitely a SW issue. In the '65/61 sets, Samsung released a FW update to fix that particular QAM problem. If more people complain to Samsung, they'll look into it.

When I called Samsung about this, the Tier-2 CSR insisted that the '71 series have weak QAM tuners :).

I have a similar problem on an offbrand Digital Research TV. It won't tune NBC HD, but if I manually put in 116 (according to the listing in Silicondust for my area) it pops up 11-1 automatically, but it won't keep it in the line up. I have to manually enter it every time.

I was upgraded in Hayward earlier this week. Here is my new HD channel line up. Is this what all of the 750+ Mhz systems in the bay area have?

700 HD on Demand
701 HD on Demand 2
702 KTVUD
703 DKNTV
704 KROND
705 KPIXD
706 KICUD
707 KGOHD
709 KQEDH
712 KBCWD
720 FSNHD
722 VS/GLF
724 ESPND
725 ES2HD
730 NFLHD
734 A&EHD
735 TBSHD
737 TNTHD
738 USAHD
739 UDH
740 MOJHD
743 MHD
746 HGTVD
750 DISHD
754 HDT
757 NGCHD
758 HISTD
770 HBOHD
780 S-HDw
785 SHOHD
792 MXHDW


Thats what I have in Walnut Creek (I believe they upgraded the system about a year ago). This is all pretty new to me, so I would assume this would mean im on a 750+ Mhz system. What does that mean exactly?

Thanks for asking. I totally understand why they don't reveal specific dates, I'd be happy with just a hint of info :) I got my upgrade letter back in late Aug/early Sept so I'm curious to see how things are rolling along.

I saw trucks working around the area in the fall and digging up the street so I know a lot of that work has already been done.

Any glimmer of hope on timing would be great.

I got my second letter for hayward like 3-4 weeks ago and it lets you know that the upgrades should be done by the end of the month sometime.

Anyone else having problems with FSNHD? The last two HD feeds on fsn have been choppy.

I got my second letter for hayward like 3-4 weeks ago and it lets you know that the upgrades should be done by the end of the month sometime.

What Zip code do you live in Kstack? I live in 94544 and dont remember seeing any upgrade notice in my mail.

i have tried to do searches but was not able to answer my questions.

I live in San Jose 95124 and have comcast and am fine with it. however i just had the ATT guy come by trying to get me to switch to Uverse. has anybody done this? is it a good idea? is there any noticeable difference other than the price?

Just looking for other experiences.

Thanks.

I asked a similar question a week ago in a different forum since Uverse is now available in our area. I was told to stay away from it if you like HDTV; main reason being.. limited bandwidth. Nothing even close to Verizon FIOS. Unless youre really unhappy with Comcast, I'd say stay with it for now. If it was Verizon FIOS in your area, I'd say jump on it.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12658495&postcount=1779




i have tried to do searches but was not able to answer my questions.

I live in San Jose 95124 and have comcast and am fine with it. however i just had the ATT guy come by trying to get me to switch to Uverse. has anybody done this? is it a good idea? is there any noticeable difference other than the price?

Just looking for other experiences.

Thanks.

I'm in a similar position as you (although perhaps for longer) as Sunnyvale is still mid-upgrade, and apparently my node is among the upgraded ones. I sent a lineup request a few days ago to TiVo, but I suspect they're in a difficult position - if I recall correctly, they do lineups by zipcode, not by node, so they can't fix mine without breaking someone else's until all of the zipcode is upgraded.
Within your zipcode they can provide different choices. For example they could just put out "Sunnyvale (rebuild)" for the new lineups.

If it was Verizon FIOS in your area, I'd say jump on it.


Wouldn't we all? I can live without On Demand for cheaper but good television and lightning fast internet.

At least I can dream...

for those using 2 cablecards inside their TiVOHD, how the 2 cablecards in TiVO HD are paired? Are there 2 different Host IDs and Data IDs comcast should pair or it uses only one Host/Data ID? just curious.:confused:

Within your zipcode they can provide different choices. For example they could just put out "Sunnyvale (rebuild)" for the new lineups.

Indeed they can - I forgot about the aspect of Tivo's Guided Setup where they ask what appears on a particular channel so they can have multiple cable lineups in a zipcode. I re-ran Guided Setup on Friday night and my S3 is now in alignment with Comcast's new channel numbers.

for those using 2 cablecards inside their TiVOHD, how the 2 cablecards in TiVO HD are paired? Are there 2 different Host IDs and Data IDs comcast should pair or it uses only one Host/Data ID? just curious.:confused:

If you have two cable cards in your TiVoHD, you should have two unique Host IDs and Data IDs. I am not looking at my own tivo right now, BUT the Data ID I believe is generated once you plug them into your TiVo. The Data ID is re-generated if you ever try to factory reset your TiVo.

So it looks like Milpitas will be totally done this month and Sunnyvale by spring time. If I can find out a firmer date on Sunnyvale I'll let you know but it will be done...Laters,
Mikef5

FWIW,

I’m Sunnyvale 94087, near El Camino and 85, called the other day, to complain about the monthly price increase(Figured it was perfect setup to bi*** about the channel upgrade).

Person claimed Tue Jan 15 or day or two later, upgrade should be present. Got the letter many, many months ago

FWIW,

I’m Sunnyvale 94087, near El Camino and 85, called the other day, to complain about the monthly price increase(Figured it was perfect setup to bi*** about the channel upgrade).

Person claimed Tue Jan 15 or day or two later, upgrade should be present. Got the letter many, many months ago

How do they respond to your complaint about price increases? :) I'm also in 94087.

It would be nice if they give us some price concession, seeing how we have so little digital or HD. I just helped my sister in Foster City set up a new TV, and I was very impressed by the number of channels they have from Comcast.

We were currently getting -$10 off month & free Starz [We are on the old Digital Silver{HBO/encore} + internet to start with]

The $-10 stopped in November, hence figured we call to complain again. She said she couldn’t do anything about it and supervisor was busy too.

If nothing happens tomorrow or this week which I would think is a distinct possibility, we’re call back next week & complain some more, maybe the supervisor will be free :rolleyes:

And Los Gatos????

Seconded. I got my letter 2 months ago saying we'd be upgraded in the next 2-3 months. I haven't seen any evidence of upgrade work, but maybe I've missed it. I sure hope Feb 15 doesn't come and go with no upgrade and no info on what the deal is.

Info maybe...upgrade.... no way by Feb 15


Seconded. I got my letter 2 months ago saying we'd be upgraded in the next 2-3 months. I haven't seen any evidence of upgrade work, but maybe I've missed it. I sure hope Feb 15 doesn't come and go with no upgrade and no info on what the deal is.

Update to Los Gatos upgrades

Just got this email about the upgrades to Los Gatos. This is as I received it.

____________________________________________________________ ____

OK to distribute to the Forum.

To date, 16.47 miles of fiber have been put in place in Los Gatos. Currently we are working on a crucial milestone, which is the interconnection to our existing fiber network to several key spots in Campbell and Sunnyvale.

We are hopeful to get these interconnections done within the next two weeks. A major component of this milestone is the need to string the fiber over the freeway and we are working with Caltrans and City staff to get that accomplished. I'm bringing this issue to the attention of the Forum because it is important to understand that we are moving as quickly as possible, but that any work in the public right-of-way faces numerous "conditions".

(A note about moving as quickly as possible....We have already placed 388.95 miles of fiber in the South Bay, that is enough fiber to stretch from San Jose to just outside of San Diego. This is a huge, complex project and I wanted to gently remind the Forum of that fact).

If all goes well with the crucial milestone highlighted above, and without sharing too much competitive data, I would not be surprised to see the first neighborhoods in Los Gatos begin to see the new channel lineup in the not too distant future.

____________________________________________________________ ___

So the upgrades are continuing just looks like paper work is getting in the way, ...... of course pulling all that new cable might have something to do with it :p;)

Laters,
Mikef5

for those using 2 cablecards inside their TiVOHD, how the 2 cablecards in TiVO HD are paired? Are there 2 different Host IDs and Data IDs comcast should pair or it uses only one Host/Data ID? just curious.:confused:
There are 3 #s to be interested in (per CableCARD)
UnitAddress is needed to activate your card. If this is entered correctly, you will receive encrypted channels (you are subscribed to) which are not further copy protected. Further copy protection is indicated by CCI=non-zero.

Host/Data pair is needed for "pairing" Pairing allows you to receive copy-protected (CCI=non-zero) shows. If you have the symptom that you can receive many of your channels (which are encrypted) but not SHO then it is likely a pairing problem (but could also be an authorization problem)

The Host portion is fixed for each slot. The Data portion of the pair is regenerated in certain conditions, like Clear & Delete Everything, upgrading your HD using someone else's image, etc. If you were paired properly, then initiate some event that causes the Data value to be regenerated you will need to call in to re-pair the CableCARD(s) if need to view CCI=non-zero content.

i have tried to do searches but was not able to answer my questions.

I live in San Jose 95124 and have comcast and am fine with it. however i just had the ATT guy come by trying to get me to switch to Uverse. has anybody done this? is it a good idea? is there any noticeable difference other than the price?

Just looking for other experiences.

Thanks.
Dizzman,

My sister ( in Milpitas ) tried out the U-verse system and is now back with Comcast, she was totally disappointed with their offering. While she had it I was able to use the system extensively and IMHO it is not ready for prime time but in the future it could be a viable alternative to cable but they have a long way to go. In my opinion, they need to get the ability to do more than one HD channel at a time and the biggest thing they need to do is to get fiber to the home not just to the node. That means a big commitment in money and resources that I'm not sure they are willing to do.

If you are not happy with cable, there's always Directv or Dish. Personally, if I didn't know what was coming down the road with Comcast's and some of their plans ;) I'd choose Dish, they just seems to have better support and a lot of real HD content to offer, but if you're fine with what you are getting with cable right now I'm sure that in the future you will be glad you stayed but that's a personal decision you'll have to make.

Laters,
Mikef5

Mike, does Mr. J have any updates on the additional HD channels that he mentioned that we would see in December and January?

There are 3 #s to be interested in (per CableCARD)
UnitAddress is needed to activate your card. If this is entered correctly, you will receive encrypted channels (you are subscribed to) which are not further copy protected. Further copy protection is indicated by CCI=non-zero.

Host/Data pair is needed for "pairing" Pairing allows you to receive copy-protected (CCI=non-zero) shows. If you have the symptom that you can receive many of your channels (which are encrypted) but not SHO then it is likely a pairing problem (but could also be an authorization problem)

The Host portion is fixed for each slot. The Data portion of the pair is regenerated in certain conditions, like Clear & Delete Everything, upgrading your HD using someone else's image, etc. If you were paired properly, then initiate some event that causes the Data value to be regenerated you will need to call in to re-pair the CableCARD(s) if need to view CCI=non-zero content.

Would a CableCard that is working correctly in one TV have any issue if it is moved to a new TV? Is a call to Comcast required in order to use the card on a different TV? TIA.

Would a CableCard that is working correctly in one TV have any issue if it is moved to a new TV? Is a call to Comcast required in order to use the card on a different TV? TIA.

Clau,

The cable card is married to your tv, if you switch it to another tv it will not work. You would have to go through the whole activation process again just like if you were getting a new card, plus the old account for that old card and tv would first have to be canceled so that card can be used in another tv and a new account set up for that card and the new tv. With all the problems that there have been just getting cards to work, canceling an old account and starting a new account just to move a card to another tv is flirting with danger :eek:
I'd just get another card for the other tv, much less hassle and less hair pulling and you maintain your sanity longer ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

...if I didn't know what was coming down the road with Comcast's and some of their plans ;)


Mikef5,

I was wondering if you could share a little bit on what is coming down on the road. Looks like you have great insider information regarding Comcast in the Bay Area. I am really hoping for more HD channels coming soon such as SciFi, Cartoon, Food, etc etc etc. Since I use TiVo HD boxes, I don't really care for On-Demand content.

Clau,

The cable card is married to your tv, if you switch it to another tv it will not work. You would have to go through the whole activation process again just like if you were getting a new card, plus the old account for that old card and tv would first have to be canceled so that card can be used in another tv and a new account set up for that card and the new tv. With all the problems that there have been just getting cards to work, canceling an old account and starting a new account just to move a card to another tv is flirting with danger :eek:
I'd just get another card for the other tv, much less hassle and less hair pulling and you maintain your sanity longer ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Thanks, that was what I suspected before I called Comcast. The Comcast technical CSR said that it should be no problem, and that I would not even need to call them. Either he was clueless or you are :). You know whom I would trust...

I originally wanted to get another CableCard, but they want $7 more for the additional outlet, plus likely another rental fee ($1.70?), per month. At this time, having the CableCard gives me two extra channels: ESPN-HD and Discovery-HD, and I am not sure if I would still get those stations on a new card since I only have Digital Starter. I think I would wait until the upgrade is complete, and then get another card if I can watch a few more channels.

Clau,

The cable card is married to your tv, if you switch it to another tv it will not work. You would have to go through the whole activation process again just like if you were getting a new card, plus the old account for that old card and tv would first have to be canceled so that card can be used in another tv and a new account set up for that card and the new tv. With all the problems that there have been just getting cards to work, canceling an old account and starting a new account just to move a card to another tv is flirting with danger :eek:
I'd just get another card for the other tv, much less hassle and less hair pulling and you maintain your sanity longer ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

I heard from somewhere that 5 additional channels were coming next month? Totally unreliable source but if this has any merit could at least give me a wink or a no comment? btw, what are the 5? :)

I have a similar problem on an offbrand Digital Research TV. It won't tune NBC HD, but if I manually put in 116 (according to the listing in Silicondust for my area) it pops up 11-1 automatically, but it won't keep it in the line up. I have to manually enter it every time.

My Sony RPT has a similar problem with NBC 11.1. Recently, when I scan for channels, it shows an 11.1, but there is no signal there. I have to tune 116.1 to get NBC-HD.

My suspicion is that it has to do with ESPN-HD sharing 116 with NBC-HD. The NBC station broadcasts a PSID, but I don't think the ESPN-HD does. It seems that some TVs don't know how to handle this. My OnAir Creator does handle it OK, but not my Sony.

Greg

My Sony RPT has a similar problem with NBC 11.1. Recently, when I scan for channels, it shows an 11.1, but there is no signal there. I have to tune 116.1 to get NBC-HD.

My suspicion is that it has to do with ESPN-HD sharing 116 with NBC-HD. The NBC station broadcasts a PSID, but I don't think the ESPN-HD does. It seems that some TVs don't know how to handle this. My OnAir Creator does handle it OK, but not my Sony.

Greg

All my QAM tuners receive NBC-HD (KNTV-DT) as 33-1.

Would a CableCard that is working correctly in one TV have any issue if it is moved to a new TV? Is a call to Comcast required in order to use the card on a different TV? TIA.
If you move the CableCARD the "pairing" will be broken, however there will only be issues with channels with CCI=non-zero (ie copy-protected channels). Normal non-copyprotected encrypted channels (ie encrypted channels with CCI=0x00) will continue to work.

Many of us found out about this issue/behavior when they enabled CCI/CopyProtection about a half year ago and TiVo S3 owners who thought they had CableCARDs paired correctly (but in reality weren't) couldn't receive some of their movie channels. They were confused because they could still receive encrypted channels, just some of their movie channels wouldn't come in.

So CableCARD "activated" means it will decrypt channels that you are authorized to receive (even if you move to a different device).
CableCARD "paired" means it will allow you to view encrypted channels/content with the added copy-protect feature specified by the CCI=non-zero flag. In the case of CCI=non-zero content, the CableCARD decrypts the content, then it re-encrypts the content using device specific keys. If the pairing is broken, that 2nd step of re-encryption cannot function properly and you will not be able to view the content.

I believe, but not have verified, that once the pairing is broken, moving the CableCARD back to the original device, will still result in broken pairing. Some people don't really care because they don't subscribe to any channels that have CCI=non-zero and don't use PPV.

Pairing can be broken for many reasons and you just need to call in with the Host/Data/CableCARDID info and they can re-pair it for you. This can sometimes be very quick and easy or a tortured process depending on the skill set of who you reach.

On a TiVo, if you Clear & Delete Everything, upgrade hard drives using somebody else's TiVo OS image, or swap CableCARD 1/2, then your pairing will also be broken (but you will still receive most of your channels because they are still "activated")

If you move the CableCARD the "pairing" will be broken, however there will only be issues with channels with CCI=non-zero (ie copy-protected channels). Normal non-copyprotected encrypted channels (ie encrypted channels with CCI=0x00) will continue to work.

Many of us found out about this issue/behavior when they enabled CCI/CopyProtection about a half year ago and TiVo S3 owners who thought they had CableCARDs paired correctly (but in reality weren't) couldn't receive some of their movie channels. They were confused because they could still receive encrypted channels, just some of their movie channels wouldn't come in.

So CableCARD "activated" means it will decrypt channels that you are authorized to receive (even if you move to a different device).
CableCARD "paired" means it will allow you to view encrypted channels with the added copy-protect feature specified by the CCI=non-zero flag.

I believe, but not have verified, that once the pairing is broken, moving the CableCARD back to the original device, will still result in broken pairing. Some people don't really care because they don't subscribe to any channels that have CCI=non-zero and don't do PPV.

Thanks for the explanation.

I think he means he switched to D*, not Dish, D* doesn't have an HD-only package, yet...

That's right. I'm getting the HD + DVR service and channel package, for less than the advertised price on the website, for the first year. Just got it installed yesterday, and am very happy with the picture, channels, and the service overall. I watched the SJ Sharks game in HD from Phoenix last night - great picture.

When I called to set up the service, they were willing to give me some additional incentives because I was a little miffed that I had to shell out a bit for the receiver/DVR. However, I am happy with the deal I got. Monthly, I'm paying less than I was for Comcast, and getting much more. So there.

Only downside so far is that the receiver seems to have a faulty HDMI out port, so the installer is coming back with a new box this week to take a look. Right now I'm running it on component video cables and rca audio. Hopefully it'll get sorted out soon. They've been very responsive so far. No complaints.

Update to Los Gatos upgrades

Just got this email about the upgrades to Los Gatos. This is as I received it.

____________________________________________________________ ____

OK to distribute to the Forum.

To date, 16.47 miles of fiber have been put in place in Los Gatos. Currently we are working on a crucial milestone, which is the interconnection to our existing fiber network to several key spots in Campbell and Sunnyvale.

We are hopeful to get these interconnections done within the next two weeks. A major component of this milestone is the need to string the fiber over the freeway and we are working with Caltrans and City staff to get that accomplished. I'm bringing this issue to the attention of the Forum because it is important to understand that we are moving as quickly as possible, but that any work in the public right-of-way faces numerous "conditions".

(A note about moving as quickly as possible....We have already placed 388.95 miles of fiber in the South Bay, that is enough fiber to stretch from San Jose to just outside of San Diego. This is a huge, complex project and I wanted to gently remind the Forum of that fact).

If all goes well with the crucial milestone highlighted above, and without sharing too much competitive data, I would not be surprised to see the first neighborhoods in Los Gatos begin to see the new channel lineup in the not too distant future.

____________________________________________________________ ___

So the upgrades are continuing just looks like paper work is getting in the way, ...... of course pulling all that new cable might have something to do with it :p;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Could this work in Sunnyvale explain why my high speed internet connection goes down to significantly less than 1.0 Mbps in the evenings? The connection speed was doing this two weeks ago for the entire week, then it was fine last week. Now the staggeringly slow speeds have returned.

I've been getting bad lag and packetloss thruout the comcast BA network at times recently.

last week I thought it might be storm related, but maybe it's because of all the upgrades?

I get pings above 200ms and packetloss starting in the first (petaluma) hop, but more as it works farther south (thru Marin, SF and eventually San Jose I think)

My pings have actually been okay. Less than 100ms usually. It's my download speeds that take a dump. When it's slow, it's been in the 200 to 300 Kbps range. Tuesday night it was really slow, less than 100 Kbps. The strange thing is that the speed is slow only in the evenings between around 5 or 6 PM until late night, like around 2 AM. Outside of that time block, download speed is fine, usually above 5 Mbps. I've already had a Comcast tech out to my home and he removed an old splitter in the wall, did some work outside and proclaimed that my interior cable wiring was fine. Well, okay then. If that's the case, then this latest slowdown must be something in Comcast's infrastructure outside of my house.

Well I stand corrected, call me jaded been here in the outpost too long

Nice update, but it feels like a CYA to me. I mean, hasn't Comcast had to deal with "over the freeway" issues innumerable times in the past? All this "right of way" BS can't be new - if they want to be in this business, they should just suck it up and get the job done. Why are they hiding being that excuse now? I hope this isn't an excuse for not getting the job done in Los Gatos.
It's crunch time....or the only option is satellite.
BTW, this comment is aimed at Comcast, not you, as the messenger.
Mike

Update to Los Gatos upgrades

Just got this email about the upgrades to Los Gatos. This is as I received it.

____________________________________________________________ ____

OK to distribute to the Forum.

To date, 16.47 miles of fiber have been put in place in Los Gatos. Currently we are working on a crucial milestone, which is the interconnection to our existing fiber network to several key spots in Campbell and Sunnyvale.

We are hopeful to get these interconnections done within the next two weeks. A major component of this milestone is the need to string the fiber over the freeway and we are working with Caltrans and City staff to get that accomplished. I'm bringing this issue to the attention of the Forum because it is important to understand that we are moving as quickly as possible, but that any work in the public right-of-way faces numerous "conditions".

(A note about moving as quickly as possible....We have already placed 388.95 miles of fiber in the South Bay, that is enough fiber to stretch from San Jose to just outside of San Diego. This is a huge, complex project and I wanted to gently remind the Forum of that fact).

If all goes well with the crucial milestone highlighted above, and without sharing too much competitive data, I would not be surprised to see the first neighborhoods in Los Gatos begin to see the new channel lineup in the not too distant future.

____________________________________________________________ ___

So the upgrades are continuing just looks like paper work is getting in the way, ...... of course pulling all that new cable might have something to do with it :p;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Nice update, but it feels like a CYA to me. I mean, hasn't Comcast had to deal with "over the freeway" issues innumerable times in the past? All this "right of way" BS can't be new - if they want to be in this business, they should just suck it up and get the job done. Why are they hiding being that excuse now? I hope this isn't an excuse for not getting the job done in Los Gatos.
It's crunch time....or the only option is satellite.
BTW, this comment is aimed at Comcast, not you, as the messenger.
Mike

actually, as much as I'll beat on comcast for being reactive vs proactive in the upgrades...I'd say that's a pretty fair update from Mr J. He's got a project plan they are marching to, but with any milestone that hinges on approval's and inspections by multiple government agency's..those agencies are going to dictate exactly when they can run that cable across the Right of Way (and they are never fast). I've dealt with enough delays on just laying cables between buildings on our own parking lots to cringe at what it's like ...so even if he said the exact date they want to due it, it's still got to have a CYA unfortunately....at least it's moving along after so long in limbo (I bailed over to Dish over a year ago since I guessed it would take at least this long....and I'll probably come back (with a nice "new" customer special) after its done.

Ps...MikeF5, if you get a chance can you see if you can just confirm if Saratoga is running along the same timeframe (I'm guessing it is, since they would like do LG, Monte Sereno and Saratoga in parallel because it's tied in at some points.)

Plus, it's certainly possible that when the original line was laid the obstacles weren't there, maybe a freeway overpass went in, a new street...Comcast could also be combining systems, systems that originally were separated by physical obstacles such as freeways, etc.

BTW, for Santa Rosa subs, I finally got the flyer with the "We will be working in your neighborhood doing upgrades etc" a couple days ago. So, it's getting closer...of course, so is that appt with the eye doctor. :D

As I write this a company called Turn Around Communications has several trucks out making some sort of adjustment on each cable connection at the pole on my block and neighboring ones as well. 999,998 more steps to go to more HD...

Turn Around Communications is apparently tweaking the cable signal. All of my channels are currently out, and I can hear chatter between techs while making the adjustments. 999,997 steps to go for more HD...

Comcast better get their **** together soon or I'm going to U-verse. They promise constant 1.5, 3 or 6mbs. I've been getting .5 mbs or less for over a week now and it has been coming and going like this for a long time. I'm getting tired of it.

Just out of curiosity Bill, what part of the Bay Area are you in? I'm sure you've had a parade of Comcast techs out to your home to figure out what is happening. What did they do, or tell you?

I was on a chat session with Comcast support last night and it was an extremely frustrating experience. It seems they are working off a script or something because the agent was having me do stuff that either I've tried countless times before (restart the modem, yada yada) or things that obviously do not have any bearing on the issue. Whenever I asked a question, the agent just ignored me and kept going down his list. The final straw was the chat session suddenly being disconnected. After that I picked up the phone, called AT&T, and asked them to reinstate my DSL service and upgrade me to the 6 Mbps service. I know that DSL isn't exactly fool-proof either, but when I had the 1.5 Mbps service it was reliable for over 9 years, when I started with Pacific Bell. I really wanted to give Comcast a chance, but I just don't have the stomach to go through the frustration of going back and forth with them for the next month or two trying to figure out why my download speeds are so slow. Too bad because when it's working normally, Comcast's high speed internet service is great. Unfortunately it's a bit of a black hole if you ever have a problem.

I'm in the upgrading arera of Sunnyvale. I don't bother to have techs come out because I know it isn't in the house and it comes and goes. Are the rebuilt areas having speed problems also?

I'm in the upgrading arera of Sunnyvale. I don't bother to have techs come out because I know it isn't in the house and it comes and goes. Are the rebuilt areas having speed problems also?

Are your modem numbers good? Or is it just a connection problem?

Hmm, that's very interesting. I'm in Sunnyvale as well, over on Fair Oaks Ave. between El Camino and Old San Francisco Rd. My cable lineup is still the old one, but I received a card in the mail several weeks ago informing me that the new cable lineup is coming between Jan 15 and Feb 15. I guess I'm right in the middle of all this cable system rebuild going on.

The last time I had a Comcast tech out, he said my modem numbers were good. He seemed pretty certain that everything inside my home was working properly.

I don't think the speed would come and go if it was my modem. I'm sure it is because of the work going on all over. Then again maybe it is too many people sharing/online unlike U-Verse where there isn't sharing.

I've seen speeds go up and down, but never to the extent that it hampers what I'm doing. I also notice that just 4-6dbs difference in signal strength can make a significant difference in DL speeds.

Bill,

Jump to U-Verse if you like the price or you think you'll get better service, but I dont think U-Verse will be able to touch Comcast's speeds after they finish the upgrade and rollout out 3.0 on their Cable modems

U-Verse is still DSL...the change is they have pulled Fiber from the Central Office to neighborhood Nodes..The target is an average of 3000'...The rest of the run is still your old twisted pair phone line...Since twisted pair performance degrades over distance by cutting the route down they can use the existing phone/dsl line to stick a compressed single HD TV channel per house (maybe a 2nd later after more upgrades). Comcast is also bringing fiber to the neighborhood, but they're connecting the neighborhood with a 1Gb Coax network...it's shared (so is everything after 3000ft with DSL) but they can stick a heck of alot of IP traffic on there from each house..more than a dedicated twisted pair can. Too bad we dont have Verizon around here..Fiber to the House....

Bill,
Jump to U-Verse if you like the price or you think you'll get better service, but I dont think U-Verse will be able to touch Comcast's speeds after they finish the upgrade and rollout out 3.0 on their Cable modems, but I Too bad we dont have Verizon around here..Fiber to the House....

Of course, the million dollar question, when will we get Docsis 3.0? When will get widespread rollout of fiber to the home in the Bay Area? (These are rhetorical unless there actually is a definitive answer)

I bet Bill can jump to U-verse for internet and be there for five years and still not have an ultra high speed option here in the Bay Area unless Bill by complete accident lands in one of the dozen homes/townhouses in the Bay Area that have Paxio FTTP. This angers and saddens me at the same time.

Sorry, Keenan and Davisdog, but I have to disagree. Comcast has been in this business for a long time, and and should have staff more than capable of planning and scheduling their projects with proper consideration for government agencies, changes in right of ways, and so forth. It's a matter of competence or lack of it, and we'll see if they get Los Gatos done within the 18 month window.
Yeah, running a big business is complicated and dealing with outside issues can be really difficult, but that is purportedly Comcast's expertise.
If Comcast is having problems with these outside issues, it is due to lack of proper planning, or assignment of resources to something else, or just poor execution on their part.
In any case, the 18 month window is closing and satellite is becoming a viable option, albeit painful because of conversion costs. Comcast has about 5 1/2 months left on their commitment.
Just my 2 cents.
Mike

actually, as much as I'll beat on comcast for being reactive vs proactive in the upgrades...I'd say that's a pretty fair update from Mr J. He's got a project plan they are marching to, but with any milestone that hinges on approval's and inspections by multiple government agency's..those agencies are going to dictate exactly when they can run that cable across the Right of Way (and they are never fast). I've dealt with enough delays on just laying cables between buildings on our own parking lots to cringe at what it's like ...so even if he said the exact date they want to due it, it's still got to have a CYA unfortunately....at least it's moving along after so long in limbo (I bailed over to Dish over a year ago since I guessed it would take at least this long....and I'll probably come back (with a nice "new" customer special) after its done.

Ps...MikeF5, if you get a chance can you see if you can just confirm if Saratoga is running along the same timeframe (I'm guessing it is, since they would like do LG, Monte Sereno and Saratoga in parallel because it's tied in at some points.)

Sorry, Keenan and Davisdog, but I have to disagree. Comcast has been in this business for a long time, and and should have staff more than capable of planning and scheduling their projects with proper consideration for government agencies, changes in right of ways, and so forth. It's a matter of competence or lack of it, and we'll see if they get Los Gatos done within the 18 month window.
Yeah, running a big business is complicated and dealing with outside issues can be really difficult, but that is purportedly Comcast's expertise.
If Comcast is having problems with these outside issues, it is due to lack of proper planning, or assignment of resources to something else, or just poor execution on their part.
In any case, the 18 month window is closing and satellite is becoming a viable option, albeit painful because of conversion costs. Comcast has about 5 1/2 months left on their commitment.
Just my 2 cents.
Mike
Mike,

I think you have a distorted view on how much power you think Comcast or any other company has over local officials. They, the local officials, can pretty can much shut down a project if they so desire or don't get what they want from those companies. I'll give you one example. One of the reasons it took so long to get the Milpitas area done was that the local franchise did not want Comcast to proceed with the upgrades ( the laying and pulling of new cable ) until AT&T was ready to do their upgrades. They wanted both company's to work at the same time so they didn't have to close the streets and accesses any more than was needed. A reasonable idea but at the time Comcast had everything ready to go ( the resources and manpower ready) but had to wait until their competition was ready also. There was also a problem with one area that they couldn't get access to until the property owner of a mobile park completed some legal issues that he was involved in. All this and more in just one city. Now multiply this by all the city's in the Bay Area and this can happen a lot more than you think it does. You can have what you think are armor clad plans and some little glitch throws things off. Like the old saying says " The best laid plans of mice and men ".

I probably told you things that Mr. J. may not of liked for me to let out but I want to make it clear that it's not always Comcast that is holding things up. While I can empathize with your eagerness in getting your area upgraded ( I was in a 550 MHz area also, SaraMilgatos :) ) it is getting done, just not as fast as we all would like or wish it was getting done. They have finished pretty much all of Milpitas now and those people have moved on to other areas to finish those areas. If you look on how the upgrades have moved through the Bay Area you might be able to guess their next area to do and that's the best I can say about that.

That being said, if you are that dissatisfied with cable then there is always Dish or Directv ( I've seen and used U-verse and it is IMHO not ready for prime time ). You have no contract with Comcast and you can leave at anytime and come back but you will have to sign a contract with the SatCo's and are locked into the term of that contract ( may not be an issue for you but it is with me ). I personally would wait until the upgrades are done before I made that switch, I'm glad I did, but that is a personal decision that you will have to make.

Laters,
Mikef5

My bet is the coming recession will have Comcast customers cutting way back on their subscriptions even to just Basic Cable (in HD) and that will seriously impact Comcast's expansion plans.

Dish is supposedly going to have an HD only package for 29.99. Thats going to draw a lot of price concious subscribers. Hope it spreads to all providers. I'd get it. Can't stand to watch SD anymore.

Comcast is gonna have to start reducing the prices on their HD offerings. Not only are they more expensive than Dish and DirectTv, but they offer significantly less channels and in my case poorer PQ and worse DVR's.

Which channels is it poorer PQ?

Yeah baby! Great games coming up this weekend!

Does anyone know at what resolution FOX and CBS are broadcasting their signal in? I thought I heard CBS -1080i & FOX 720p. Anyone know exactly? Thanks!

Yeah baby! Great games coming up this weekend!

Does anyone know at what resolution FOX and CBS are broadcasting their signal in? I thought I heard CBS -1080i & FOX 720p. Anyone know exactly? Thanks!

You're exactly correct as stated, CBS-1080i and FOX-720p.

Which channels is it poorer PQ?

Well, I have a lot of trouble seeing SciFi-HD on Comcast, PQ is so bad I can't even see the channel. :p:D

You're exactly correct as stated, CBS-1080i and FOX-720p.

Hey thanks, keenan. I appreciate the confirmation. Also, as far as resolution goes I have a pioneer 5010 tv (1080p but i'm sure you know that already), but will the tv upconvert for me or should I adjust the format on the receiver to 720p? I'm throwing a party for the games so want to make sure I'm fully optimized :) Thanks, keenan!

G

I'm not Keenan but it's better if you let the TV do the work. So you should change your box to output 1080i for the CBS game and to output 720p for the FOX game.
In my DCH box I just push a bottom in the box to change resolutions. For other boxes you have to turn off the box and go to settings.

I'm not Keenan but it's better if you let the TV do the work. So you should change your box to output 1080i for the CBS game and to output 720p for the FOX game.
In my DCH box I just push a bottom in the box to change resolutions. For other boxes you have to turn off the box and go to settings.

Thanks, rsra13. I too have the box that you push the button on the display to adjust resolution which is a nice new feature btw :) . I asked a co-worker about this question as well and he said it shouldn't make a difference if i keep the box on 1080i even if it's broadcasted in 720p. Your explanation makes more sense though, but I just don't know about always having to flip resolutions back and forth. I'll just have to experiment. Thanks!

Thanks, rsra13. I too have the box that you push the button on the display to adjust resolution which is a nice new feature btw :) . I asked a co-worker about this question as well and he said it shouldn't make a difference if i keep the box on 1080i even if it's broadcasted in 720p. Your explanation makes more sense though, but I just don't know about always having to flip resolutions back and forth. I'll just have to experiment. Thanks!

The scaler in the Moto boxes isn't anything to write home about. I just wish the box had a setting that output the program in whatever format the program was recorded in. Not that much of an issue for me as my Sage system records in native format and the scaler in my clients is very good, but I don't know why Mot doesn't give you the same option the S/A boxes have on output.

Yeah, your probably should do a better job scaling than the Moto box. You can try leaving the resolution at 1080i all the time and see how FOX looks in your TV. There are some people that can't see a difference on who does the scaling sometimes.
In my case I have a Panny projector (PTAX200U), and most of the time I can see a difference if the Moto is doing the scaling.

What Zip code do you live in Kstack? I live in 94544 and dont remember seeing any upgrade notice in my mail.

Sorry for the delayed response but I'm in zip code 94542.

Did u guys notice that there's no HBO HD on demand? HBO is the only premium channel that doesn't have HD on demand, which makes me wonder if i need to change to another premium channel such as CinemaxHD or Showtime HD.

Any suggestion as the program and HD quality on those premium channels?

bxz:mad:

Did u guys notice that there's no HBO HD on demand? HBO is the only premium channel that doesn't have HD on demand, which makes me wonder if i need to change to another premium channel such as CinemaxHD or Showtime HD.

Any suggestion as the program and HD quality on those premium channels?

bxz:mad:

????? There's HBO OnDemand.

My new Tivo HD detected a "new channel." It is now listing 720 as FOXHDWE instead of FSN. Any one know if this is a change in name only or a more significant change?

I just purchased a second HDTV and do not plan on renting another cable box. The channel lineup format for my Sony for the lower channels is:
2 KTVU 2 NTSC
2.1 KTVU 2 HD 720
3 KNTV 11 NTSC
4 KRON 4 NTSC
4.2 KRON 4 HD 720
5 KPIX 5 NTSC
5.2 KPIX 5 HD 1080
6 KICU 36 NTSC
7 KGO 7 NTSC
7.1 KGO 7 HD 720
7.2 KGO-DT+ 7 HD 480
7.3 KGO 7 weather 480

Before I go to the trouble of making a chart for all the channels, I thought I would ask if it is already available somewhere.

Thanks,

Jim

jime,
This might help
http://www.silicondust.com/wiki/hdhomerun/channels

????? There's HBO OnDemand.

There was an HBO On Demand. It has been on and off many times in the past. I'm sure it will be back again, when they have a new series to populate it with. They never had many of their movies at any time.

My new Tivo HD detected a "new channel." It is now listing 720 as FOXHDWE instead of FSN. Any one know if this is a change in name only or a more significant change?

My channel 720 still shows FSNHD on my Moto 6412. FOXHDWE is the Los Angeles feed and has the Lakers et al. I'm sure it's a mistake on the guide's side.

My 720 on TiVo S3 shows FSBAHDS.

Looks like analog channel 66 is gone. My analog Tivo reported it.

Channel 66 was Hallmark analog and was slated to go digital only, and now it has happened. Room for 2 more HD channels. :) On the other hand, it is still alive in Rohnert Park. :(

There was an HBO On Demand. It has been on and off many times in the past. I'm sure it will be back again, when they have a new series to populate it with. They never had many of their movies at any time.

That's odd...never noticed that. I was watching it last night...Flight of the Conchords!!

Before I go to the trouble of making a chart for all the channels, I thought I would ask if it is already available somewhere.No, because it's different for every head-end (potentially, anyway). For example KNTV-HD is on 116.1 here. You might want to search again though because looks like you're missing KICU-HD (32.1 here) and "CW-44" (107.2 here).

Also don't "sign" your posts, it makes quoting messy, and that's what "signatures" are for, thanks! :cool:

No, because {the channel lineup is} different for every head-end (potentially, anyway).True...but do check out the Silicon Dust website that was linked above, as it's set up by zipcode and is more often accurate than not in metro areas.

I have noticed that since yesterday (or maybe the day before) the channel 706 KICU-HD is not in HD any more (480i). I am in Mountain View. Making space for something else ?

Is anyone else having the same problem while watching the football game?:(

Is anyone else having the same problem while watching the football game?:(

No breakup on 705, but had horrible breakup on ESPN2 (725) when trying to see the Australian Open.

No breakups at all.

How long do folks think (or know) if Comcast will continue to send the FTA local HD channels down the pipe unencrypted? I bought a Epvision cable tuner for some friends for Xmas who live in San Ramon. They don't have a cable box and so watch everything over analogue cable using their cable ready tuner. Since they have a HD TV it seemed a shame not to see some HD content, hence the present.

When we did a channel scan it found 400+ digital channels(!) and about 90 analogue. Of course most of the digital channels are not viewable but we get

KTVU
KRON
KNTV
KPIX
KABC
KICU
PBS
KBCW

in HD which was very pleasing. Hope they don't go away (is this some sort of FCC regulation?)

I have noticed that since yesterday (or maybe the day before) the channel 706 KICU-HD is not in HD any more (480i). I am in Mountain View. Making space for something else ?

Comcast has nothing to do with what resolution the stations broadcast at. In this case it's KICU that is broadcasting at 480i not Comcast down-rezzing the signal. I would imagine that KICU saw that it had no real HD programing and decided to use their resources elsewhere or their parent station needed to use those resources ( If I remember right KTVU is the parent station of KICU ).
Another possibility could be that they are having trouble with their digital channel and are showing the analog signal in it's place until they can fix the problem, your choice :)

Laters,
Mikef5

How long do folks think (or know) if Comcast will continue to send the FTA local HD channels down the pipe unencrypted? I bought a Epvision cable tuner for some friends for Xmas who live in San Ramon. They don't have a cable box and so watch everything over analogue cable using their cable ready tuner. Since they have a HD TV it seemed a shame not to see some HD content, hence the present.

When we did a channel scan it found 400+ digital channels(!) and about 90 analogue. Of course most of the digital channels are not viewable but we get

KTVU
KRON
KNTV
KPIX
KABC
KICU
PBS
KBCW

in HD which was very pleasing. Hope they don't go away (is this some sort of FCC regulation?)
The last that I heard the FCC requires those stations that are available over the air locally to be left unencrypted on cable and the last time I asked about this that's what Comcast planned on doing, so the stations you listed should remain unencrypted on cable for the foreseeable future.

Laters,
Mikef5

I had only 1 freeze during the game about 4 minutes ago as of this posting. What is normal for me is to get a random glitch or minor pixellation on HBO/Cinemax.

Quote:


Since this thread is so long I decided to post this question here. If it is not the correct place please let me know. Here is my situation. I don't own a tv, yet I would like to watch local channels in HD. My computer screen is Samsung 24" with 1200x1920 native resolution. I was thinking to install a FusionHDTV5-RT Gold tv capture card which has clear QAM tuner.

Now my internet provider is Comcast and I was wondering what can I expect to get in HD?
I have no idea if Comcast encrypt the local channels or maybe I can get some other channels with HD. If I need to subscribe to the any service please let me know. Also if there is a channel list and whats available in HD will be greatly appreciated. The one thing I don't want to do is to get their tuner.

Thanks for any info,
Yossi


You will receive KTVU, KNTV, KRON, KPIX, KICU, KGO, KQED, and KBCW in HD. They are all unencrypted.

Hello there fellow watchers.


Well I got the FusionHDTV5-RT Gold and did the auto scan. It seems that I can't get all the HD channels. Could any one please help either to manually configure the channel or help to trouble shoot why don't I get all the channels. The signal strength is normally above 90% and above 30db.

The channels I get are:KRON, KGO, KQED, and KNTV.

Thanks in advance.
Yossi.

PS. attached is an image of the channels I get.

See my posting
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12877281#post12877281

Those are the channels we got on Comcast FTA HD. No idea what the settings are but this was using a PrimeDTV

See my posting
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12877281#post12877281

Those are the channels we got on Comcast FTA HD. No idea what the settings are but this was using a PrimeDTV

Thanks, I know that others get those channels (I read your post before I posted mine). I wonder why my Card doesn't pick up all the channels, you were able to pick up.
Any advise regarding the RF that each channel is on might help to manually set up mine.

It really sucks not to be able to watch the 2 games today because I can't get KTVU and KPIX.
Any help will be greatly appreciated. Though I suspect most of you now watching the game :-)

Thanks, I know that others get those channels (I read your post before I posted mine). I wonder why my Card doesn't pick up all the channels, you were able to pick up.
Any advise regarding the RF that each channel is on might help to manually set up mine.

It really sucks not to be able to watch the 2 games today because I can't get KTVU and KPIX.
Any help will be greatly appreciated. Though I suspect most of you now watching the game :-)

http://www.silicondust.com/wiki/hdhomerun/channels

Enter your zip code. This tells you what the physical channel numbers are.

Comcast has nothing to do with what resolution the stations broadcast at. In this case it's KICU that is broadcasting at 480i not Comcast down-rezzing the signal. I would imagine that KICU saw that it had no real HD programing and decided to use their resources elsewhere or their parent station needed to use those resources ( If I remember right KTVU is the parent station of KICU ).
Another possibility could be that they are having trouble with their digital channel and are showing the analog signal in it's place until they can fix the problem, your choice :)
KICU UHF 52
1280x720p 9.55Mbps

KICU QAM 706
528x480i 3.04Mbps

Don't know the reason, but the OTA HD broadcast is not what is being sent on 706.

Thats right, same in 95134 too. I would think it more than likely KICU sending 480i feed to Comcast. Someone with OTA could correlate.

I have noticed that since yesterday (or maybe the day before) the channel 706 KICU-HD is not in HD any more (480i). I am in Mountain View. Making space for something else ?

KICU UHF 52
1280x720p 9.55Mbps

KICU QAM 706
528x480i 3.04Mbps

Don't know the reason, but the OTA HD broadcast is not what is being sent on 706.
That is odd indeed. From what I remember Comcast gets a direct feed from the stations not from Sutro. Why Comcast would be getting a 480i signal and OTA is 720p doesn't make sense. I'll bring this up with Mr. J. and see if he knows what's going on. If someone has contacts at KICU they might be able to shed some light on what's the deal is with is disparity in signals.

EDIT....
I sent an email through KICU's website to their engineering department, we'll see if they answer it :)
I suggest others do the same thing, if this is important to you. They need to know that more than one person has noticed the discrepancy in their signals.

Laters,
Mikef5

Thanks, I know that others get those channels (I read your post before I posted mine). I wonder why my Card doesn't pick up all the channels, you were able to pick up.
Any advise regarding the RF that each channel is on might help to manually set up mine.

It really sucks not to be able to watch the 2 games today because I can't get KTVU and KPIX.
Any help will be greatly appreciated. Though I suspect most of you now watching the game :-)

No idea of the RF etc. but one of the questions in the PrimeDTV setup was whether or not we had Cable STD, Cable IRC or Cable HRC. No idea which we had so just defaulted to STD. If there is an option in the card software you might want to try all three. Worth a shot I guess

http://www.silicondust.com/wiki/hdhomerun/channels

Enter your zip code. This tells you what the physical channel numbers are.


Thank you for the link it provided the necessary information. It was very helpful. I tried to add those couple of channels manually without success. Any help will be appreciated.

Lets say that I want to add KPIX and KTVU. On the web page corresponding to my zip code I got following:


Type Channel Program Call Sign Resolution Aspect
qam256 79 1 KPIXDT 1920x1080i 16:9
qam256 79 2 KTVUDT 1280x720p 16:9


How do I add it manually to my FusionHDTV 5 GOLD RT model?

Thank you for the link it provided the necessary information. It was very helpful. I tried to add those couple of channels manually without success. Any help will be appreciated.

Lets say that I want to add KPIX and KTVU. On the web page corresponding to my zip code I got following:


Type Channel Program Call Sign Resolution Aspect
qam256 79 1 KPIXDT 1920x1080i 16:9
qam256 79 2 KTVUDT 1280x720p 16:9


How do I add it manually to my FusionHDTV 5 GOLD RT model?

Can you manually enter 79? On some TV's this will let the tuner find the sub-channels.

Thank you for the link it provided the necessary information. It was very helpful. I tried to add those couple of channels manually without success. Any help will be appreciated.

Lets say that I want to add KPIX and KTVU. On the web page corresponding to my zip code I got following:


Type Channel Program Call Sign Resolution Aspect
qam256 79 1 KPIXDT 1920x1080i 16:9
qam256 79 2 KTVUDT 1280x720p 16:9


How do I add it manually to my FusionHDTV 5 GOLD RT model?

YSahar,

Here is the link to the DVICO Fusion 5 HDTV tuner group, they could give you much better and more specific help with your equipment than you can get in this forum.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=545967

Laters,
Mikef5

Nice update, but it feels like a CYA to me. I mean, hasn't Comcast had to deal with "over the freeway" issues innumerable times in the past? All this "right of way" BS can't be new - if they want to be in this business, they should just suck it up and get the job done. Why are they hiding being that excuse now? I hope this isn't an excuse for not getting the job done in Los Gatos.
It's crunch time....or the only option is satellite.
BTW, this comment is aimed at Comcast, not you, as the messenger.
Mike

I tend to agree. No slight you, Mikef5, just to comcast, but if they want us to have any faith in their predictions, they need to, well... make better predictions. If it's not going to be until Summer or Fall, just tell us. We're adults-- we can handle the truth. I mean, seriously, what kind of weasely B.S. is this:

I would not be surprised to see the first neighborhoods in Los Gatos begin to see the new channel lineup in the not too distant future.
Not surprised... first neighbrohoods... begin to see... not too distant...

I tend to agree. No slight you, Mikef5, just to comcast, but if they want us to have any faith in their predictions, they need to, well... make better predictions. If it's not going to be until Summer or Fall, just tell us. We're adults-- we can handle the truth. I mean, seriously, what kind of weasely B.S. is this:


Not surprised... first neighbrohoods... begin to see... not too distant...
John,

Comcast is always vague in giving dates out mostly due to not wanting their competition to know what and where they are doing things. If you read what Mr. J. said you know what area is next in the areas to get upgraded. Milpitas is pretty much done so what other areas are in the SaraMilgatos loop ?? .... ;)

You'll never get a drop dead date from Comcast or any other provider. There's always things that happen that can delay or accelerate your time frame. Right now we're in a rainy part of the season and I'm sure this is slowing things down but they are still working to get the job done but may delay things a bit. I really wish that I could give you dates and areas but I can only post what is authorized for me to post and it's the same way with Mr. J. , he has bosses to answer to also. I'm amazed that he still takes the time to keep us in the forums updated with the information that he does, you won't see that with the other providers.

Laters,
Mikef5

Hi,

Yesterday, while eating breakfast, my dog started going crazy, barking at something in the backyard. Imagine my surprise when I looked out and saw a CableCom guy up on the pole, pulling new cable along pullies mounted on the pole!

I'm in the Fremont/Homestead/Mary/Bernardo square, and this is the closest that I have seen work done to my house. For those that have noticed these types of things....how long from new cable on the pole behind your house to having the new HD channels in your living room? 2-4-6-8-10-12 weeks???

Bob

rjcrum,

My parents are knickerbocker/elcamino/Mary/Hollenbeck and they had cablecom pulling the neighborhood 6 Weeks+ ago and no upgrade for them yet.

Further on Sunnyvale upgrade status....I'm in 94087 in the square formed by Heron/Homestead/Canary/Inverness. We had Comcast and Comcast sub-contractors in the neighborhood about 6-8 weeks ago. Most visible work was on upgradings amps, couplers, and splitters inside pedestals. Our particular street has underground utilities -- no digging was done and no obvious new cable was pulled in our immediate area. No upgrade channels activated yet. Occasional outages of a few minutes to a few hours continue to occur.

Further on Sunnyvale upgrade status....I'm in 94087 in the square formed by Heron/Homestead/Canary/Inverness. We had Comcast and Comcast sub-contractors in the neighborhood about 6-8 weeks ago. Most visible work was on upgradings amps, couplers, and splitters inside pedestals. Our particular street has underground utilities -- no digging was done and no obvious new cable was pulled in our immediate area. No upgrade channels activated yet. Occasional outages of a few minutes to a few hours continue to occur.

Folks, I keep seeing reports about Comcast "upgrades". Exactly what does the "upgrade" do? I have Basic Cable and have been watching QAM. What does that mean to me?

It means nothing to you unless you spring for a Comcast digital subscription of one sort or another and use either one of their STB or a CableCard to decrypt the premium content that you will have paid for.

Thanks for the reply. That kind of sucks as I thought I could see more local channels in QAM. I am more and more inclined to drop my cable subscription and go OTA only.

I just got an email from the lead engineer at KICU about the problem with channel 706 being 480i instead of 720p. Seems they were doing some testing and had Comcast switch the feed for 706 to the analog source while they did their testing, problem is the testing is over and it's still 480i. I have no idea on who dropped the ball on this one but I'll have to ask Mr. J. about who's job it is to switch back to the digital source :confused:.

Laters,
Mikef5

....I thought I could see more local channels in QAM.You can see all of the local stations in clear QAM now. You asked about effects of upgrade, which will not change that AFAIK, because it's motivated by increasing Comcast's premium offerings.

I just got an email from the lead engineer at KICU about the problem with channel 706 being 480i instead of 720p. Seems they were doing some testing and had Comcast switch the feed for 706 to the analog source while they did their testing, problem is the testing is over and it's still 480i. I have no idea on who dropped the ball on this one but I'll have to ask Mr. J. about who's job it is to switch back to the digital source :confused:.

Laters,
Mikef5

It's amazing that it takes a user from an Internet forum to let a broadcast station in a major market know they're broadcasting in the wrong format.

It's amazing that it takes a user from an Internet forum to let a broadcast station in a major market know they're broadcasting in the wrong format.
What's really sad is nobody noticed it except a couple of people. The only reason I noticed was it was posted here :o I hardly ever watch KICU except when they showed an A's game or some other sporting event. So what does that say about the ability of people to know when they're seeing HD or not, my excuse is I'm old :p;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Like other mentioned here I was getting Jade Channel unencrpted on 84-7 in West SJ since November. It had stopped coming through in the clear since about 1/18. Did it stop coming through clear for others too (except SF presumbably)? What's the minimum cost to get it again? I only have limited basic (analog) at the moment and not about to spend a bunch for just this channel.

Like other mentioned here I was getting Jade Channel unencrpted on 84-7 in West SJ since November. It had stopped coming through in the clear since about 1/18. Did it stop coming through clear for others too (except SF presumbably)? What's the minimum cost to get it again? I only have limited basic (analog) at the moment and not about to spend a bunch for just this channel.

$10

In my last statement it said Jade was going on a trial until towards the end of January. Looks like it ended and if you want it, you have to pay now.

Further on Sunnyvale upgrade status....I'm in 94087 in the square formed by Heron/Homestead/Canary/Inverness. We had Comcast and Comcast sub-contractors in the neighborhood about 6-8 weeks ago. Most visible work was on upgradings amps, couplers, and splitters inside pedestals. Our particular street has underground utilities -- no digging was done and no obvious new cable was pulled in our immediate area. No upgrade channels activated yet. Occasional outages of a few minutes to a few hours continue to occur.

Well, we can say AGAIN, the upgrade is coming, just like Xmas! :D

You can see all of the local stations in clear QAM now. You asked about effects of upgrade, which will not change that AFAIK, because it's motivated by increasing Comcast's premium offerings.

I still don't get KRON-HD (Channel 4) or KICU-HD. I guess it's because they have not upgraded my neighborhood yet.

Oh, OK...you're right. There are benefits of the upgrade for basic cable subscribers. (I now recall that we didn't have the ADS low-rez versions of those channels before the upgrade either, so that my "all local stations" really wasn't correct at all for pre-upgraded sites)

Like other mentioned here I was getting Jade Channel unencrpted on 84-7 in West SJ since November. It had stopped coming through in the clear since about 1/18. Did it stop coming through clear for others too (except SF presumbably)? What's the minimum cost to get it again? I only have limited basic (analog) at the moment and not about to spend a bunch for just this channel.

My family pays for the Jade Channel on the box. From the forum, I discovered we had it on our other HDTV on digital tuner without box on 95.9 but it's been scrambled since Friday. I figured it wasn't just us, but my mom called in because she likes having it on the other TV. She ended up getting a very rude CS rep who said you can't get digital channels without a box over 75 or 100. My mom tried to explain the situation but I'm guessing the woman didn't get it and she actually hung up on my mom.

Time to celebrate!! I just got updated!!! Sunnyvale 94087 (around Fremont/Mary)! New HD channels, On Demand not working yet.

Digital Tuner on other HD is showing a lot of new channels too but not sure exactly what they are.

What's really sad is nobody noticed it except a couple of people. The only reason I noticed was it was posted here :o I hardly ever watch KICU except when they showed an A's game or some other sporting event. So what does that say about the ability of people to know when they're seeing HD or not, my excuse is I'm old :p;)

Laters,
Mikef5

I have noticed right away because I have video processor that has a bug where it take 2~3 sec to do or undo the HDCP handshake when you switch from 1024i -> 480i -> 1024i. So it slowed down my channel surfing with a non-HD channel right in the middle of all the other HD channels.

Time to celebrate!! I just got updated!!! Sunnyvale 94087 (around Fremont/Mary)! New HD channels, On Demand not working yet.

Digital Tuner on other HD is showing a lot of new channels too but not sure exactly what they are.

Great. I'm in 94087, so maybe there's hope. Do you have a QAM tuner, and do you need to rescan everything? I guess what I'm asking is whether the old digital channels are at the same frequencies.

Great. I'm in 94087, so maybe there's hope. Do you have a QAM tuner, and do you need to rescan everything? I guess what I'm asking is whether the old digital channels are at the same frequencies.

Yes, we have a QAM tuner with the Philips HDTV we have in the kitchen without the box.

It automatically added the new channels but I did another rescan to be sure, it added one channel but I have no idea what it was. Most of the HD channels that we had before stayed the same except for:

NBC HD moved to 11.1 (understandable)
CW HD added at 92.2 (not really)
KRON HD added at 131.8 (not. at all.)

There's a bunch of channels in the 100 ranges which show a bunch of basketball games and On Demand video stuff. I'm guessing these are the feeds of what would show on the On Demand channels while you search and pick programs.

Hope that helps.

Yes, we have a QAM tuner with the Philips HDTV we have in the kitchen without the box.

It automatically added the new channels but I did another rescan to be sure, it added one channel but I have no idea what it was. Most of the HD channels that we had before stayed the same except for:

NBC HD moved to 11.1 (understandable)
CW HD added at 92.2 (not really)
KRON HD added at 131.8 (not. at all.)

There's a bunch of channels in the 100 ranges which show a bunch of basketball games and On Demand video stuff. I'm guessing these are the feeds of what would show on the On Demand channels while you search and pick programs.

Hope that helps.

Ok, thanks. NBC-HD used to be 33-1. So I would check that tonight to see if we're upgraded. Glad to have KRON-HD (when we get upgraded, i.e.). The wife likes to watch their newscast.

Time to celebrate!! I just got updated!!! Sunnyvale 94087 (around Fremont/Mary)! New HD channels, On Demand not working yet.

Digital Tuner on other HD is showing a lot of new channels too but not sure exactly what they are.

My cable modem signal has gone from 549mhz to 705mhz. I assume that means I'm upgraded. Funny thing is (NOT FUNNY) my download speed has gone to 100kbs. Some upgrade! All I have is internet so I can't tell if I have new channels available.

I live in Los Gatos, but getting comcast HD signal through clear QAM only.
The talk of upgrade etc recently get me concerned, what exactly has happened to the signals in Los Gatos?

Yes, we have a QAM tuner with the Philips HDTV we have in the kitchen without the box.

It automatically added the new channels but I did another rescan to be sure, it added one channel but I have no idea what it was. Most of the HD channels that we had before stayed the same except for:

NBC HD moved to 11.1 (understandable)
CW HD added at 92.2 (not really)
KRON HD added at 131.8 (not. at all.)

There's a bunch of channels in the 100 ranges which show a bunch of basketball games and On Demand video stuff. I'm guessing these are the feeds of what would show on the On Demand channels while you search and pick programs.

Hope that helps.
Darn, no upgrade over here near Canary and Inverness yet. :-( Hope springs eternal.

As of last night, no new channels in my neck of 94087 either (Remington & Hollenbeck). I didn't check this morning before leaving work, but I don't expect I'll have any when I get home tonight. :(

Does any body know when downtown Hayward will be upgraded?
I know that Hayward hills got upgraded 2 weeks ago

Does any body know when downtown Hayward will be upgraded?
I know that Hayward hills got upgraded 2 weeks ago

Not true, I'm still not upgraded! (I am in the Hayward Hills):( I hope it's within a few days. I thought I would be able to watch the Warriors play tonight on TNT HD but...

BTW, My channels keep going in and out so that might be a sign.

Does any body know when downtown Hayward will be upgraded?
I know that Hayward hills got upgraded 2 weeks ago

Have you received an upgrade letter yet? That would be a good indicator that Comcast is working on the system.

The reality is the upgrades have been painfully slow in Hayward and San Lorenzo compared to other areas. Don’t expect them to happen anytime soon.

I helped my sister in Castro Valley get an HD set the other day. The set found all the clear QAM channels except KNTV-DT and of course KICU (which it may have found as 480i due to the current mess). It's rather a moot point as I set it up just so they could see HD and then set them back to the SD box for the interim as they're going to get an HD box from Comcast. The driving factor was that they couldn't read the channel guide on their 13" set and now have a 32" set which made of course a difference.

The problem with KICU has been rectified and they are now sending a 720p signal to Comcast on channel 706. Seems KICU changed their encoder which was not compatible with Comcasts decoder so they had to change out the decoder to get things back to normal.

Laters,
Mikef5

The upgrade has finally gone live in my neighborhood! I came home from work yesterday to nice shiny new channels and glorious on demand. Don't have the channel lineup to post right now but I can if anyone in the area is interested. I'm in the Kawana Springs neighborhood, SE Santa Rosa.

BTW, My channels keep going in and out so that might be a sign.

Exactly what happened in Sunnyvale before the upgrade went live. Went on for 2 or 3 days...

Does Comcast offer HD STB that has HDMI output ?

Does Comcast offer HD STB that has HDMI output ?

Yes. Pretty much all of the HD boxes have HDMI at this point.

The upgrade has finally gone live in my neighborhood! I came home from work yesterday to nice shiny new channels and glorious on demand. Don't have the channel lineup to post right now but I can if anyone in the area is interested. I'm in the Kawana Springs neighborhood, SE Santa Rosa.

When you get the time, an HD channel list would be appreciated. :)

I just installed our first ATSC-equipped device (a VHS / DVD player/recorder), hooked it up to our Comcast cable (in Corte Madera) and was frankly surprised that it found a number of "digital" broadcast signals that I could watch (in letterbox format) on our analog TV.

I'm curious about what I found on our cable: Digital TV signals for the 4 networks plus PBS. But what I'm unclear about is whether I'm receiving low res 480p digital, or am I receiving the HD signals from these broadcasters?

KTVU 2.1, KNTV 11.1, KRON 4.1, KPIX 5.1 KGO 7.1, and KQED 9.1, 9.2 -- all popped up (see next paragraph for the details).

It did not find KNTV-11's digital simulcast (which I'm a little confused about, but from reading here, at KNTV's website, and possibly at Comcast -- that KNTV 11D will be on 11.1. I did get 11.2, their digital program info signal, but 11.1 had no signal. Was that a Comcast malfunction, or did KNTV loose their digital simulcast Tuesday evening?

Here's my real question for the group. The broadcasters are using their digital channel assignments to send true HD signals, I presume? Each TV station received a previously unused UHF channel allocation for their new DTV signal -- except KNTV which apparently received VHF channel 12 for their DTV.

So the broadcasters are transmitting either Low Res DTV or HDTV -- but not both simultaneously (I'm deducing) -- based on the program material they have available. Is Comcast stepping into the bit-stream, and downgrading an HD signal to low res DTV?

BTW, My channels keep going in and out so that might be a sign.

Exactly what happened in Sunnyvale before the upgrade went live. Went on for 2 or 3 days...

tsk...how many channels were going out on you just before the new channels went live for you? The only channel I've seen problems with recently is KTVU-HD. When it goes out, the analog channel is fine.

Anyone else have this problem the last few nights?

Yes. Pretty much all of the HD boxes have HDMI at this point.

Any specific model numbers that should be asked if there is a choice ? Thanks !

Any specific model numbers that should be asked if there is a choice ? Thanks !

6412 Series 3 and all of the 34xx series.

I just installed our first ATSC-equipped device (a VHS / DVD player/recorder), hooked it up to our Comcast cable (in Corte Madera) and was frankly surprised that it found a number of "digital" broadcast signals that I could watch (in letterbox format) on our analog TV.

I'm curious about what I found on our cable: Digital TV signals for the 4 networks plus PBS. But what I'm unclear about is whether I'm receiving low res 480p digital, or am I receiving the HD signals from these broadcasters?

KTVU 2.1, KNTV 11.1, KRON 4.1, KPIX 5.1 KGO 7.1, and KQED 9.1, 9.2 -- all popped up (see next paragraph for the details).

It did not find KNTV-11's digital simulcast (which I'm a little confused about, but from reading here, at KNTV's website, and possibly at Comcast -- that KNTV 11D will be on 11.1. I did get 11.2, their digital program info signal, but 11.1 had no signal. Was that a Comcast malfunction, or did KNTV loose their digital simulcast Tuesday evening?

Here's my real question for the group. The broadcasters are using their digital channel assignments to send true HD signals, I presume? Each TV station received a previously unused UHF channel allocation for their new DTV signal -- except KNTV which apparently received VHF channel 12 for their DTV.

So the broadcasters are transmitting either Low Res DTV or HDTV -- but not both simultaneously (I'm deducing) -- based on the program material they have available. Is Comcast stepping into the bit-stream, and downgrading an HD signal to low res DTV?

I think you meant QAM tuner, not ATSC tuner.

Here is a good site for finding out the clear channels available, and their physical channel information:

http://www.silicondust.com/wiki/hdhomerun/channels

Hope the question is ok here, since it relates to Comcast

I've got a Pioneer plasma PDP-6010FD and am trying to set-up the Motorola cablebox so that I get the best possible picture.

In the HDMI advanced settings in the DCH-3416 I have the choice of two color spaces: YCC and RGB.

Does it matter which is selected?

In theory YCC could yield better results, but displays are RGB so it will convert to that at some point in the chain anyway.

Either use Auto or try YCC if it works, RGB if not....

Mine auto-detects YCC but honestly RGB looks the same.

I just installed our first ATSC-equipped device (a VHS / DVD player/recorder), hooked it up to our Comcast cable (in Corte Madera) and was frankly surprised that it found a number of "digital" broadcast signals that I could watch (in letterbox format) on our analog TV.

I'm curious about what I found on our cable: Digital TV signals for the 4 networks plus PBS. But what I'm unclear about is whether I'm receiving low res 480p digital, or am I receiving the HD signals from these broadcasters?

KTVU 2.1, KNTV 11.1, KRON 4.1, KPIX 5.1 KGO 7.1, and KQED 9.1, 9.2 -- all popped up (see next paragraph for the details).

It did not find KNTV-11's digital simulcast (which I'm a little confused about, but from reading here, at KNTV's website, and possibly at Comcast -- that KNTV 11D will be on 11.1. I did get 11.2, their digital program info signal, but 11.1 had no signal. Was that a Comcast malfunction, or did KNTV loose their digital simulcast Tuesday evening?

Here's my real question for the group. The broadcasters are using their digital channel assignments to send true HD signals, I presume? Each TV station received a previously unused UHF channel allocation for their new DTV signal -- except KNTV which apparently received VHF channel 12 for their DTV.

So the broadcasters are transmitting either Low Res DTV or HDTV -- but not both simultaneously (I'm deducing) -- based on the program material they have available. Is Comcast stepping into the bit-stream, and downgrading an HD signal to low res DTV?

I don't think I stated my question correctly. Let me try again. I wasn't actually looking for the channel allocations either OTA or on Comcast. Here are the 2 or 3 questions:

1. What's happened to KNTV's digital signal on Comcast? Our new tuner only found 11.2 (if I recall) and it was some kind of program info channel, not the actual simulcast of the OTA analog broadcast.


2a. For the QAM channels that the tuner did discover, could anyone explain whether I'm seeing a 480i digital picture or am I seeing HD signals (either 720 or 1080)?

2b. Could someone explain the relationship between what's being broadcast OTA in digital format, to what I see on Comcast? For example, KGO TV in San Francisco shows up with several digital signals on Comcast, but they're only allocated 1 DTV over-the-air channel by the FCC. Are they broadcasting multiple programs over that one OTA channel -- or just one?

Obviously I get that the broadcasters could send any number of signals directly to Comcast for retransmission on the cable system. Perhaps this is what's confusing me?

3. Are the major OTA broadcasters sending out their programs in HD 24/7 -- or are they actually sending low res broadcasts (480i I suppose) some of the time -- and is this based on available program material from Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS?

4. Does Comcast have the ability to "down res" an HD broadcast for those of us not subscribing to their HD service? And, if they have the ability, are they doing it?

Thanks.

Welcome to the world of DTV, mrwheels. Yes, DTV stations can have multiple subchannels all on one rf channel. This is true for both OTA and cable. KGO-DT has 3 programs, KQED-DT has 5 (but not all the time!), and KNTV-DT has 2, while KPIX-DT has only one.

Comcast sends the DTV programs "as is" from the stations, but they create their own versions of the analog broadcasts for digital cable and those have various resolutions.

The OTA broadcasts are (99.999% of the time) in one and only one resolution 24/7, but you'll often see 480i stuff that's upconverted to their normal HD format these days.

...
I'm curious about what I found on our cable: Digital TV signals for the 4 networks plus PBS. But what I'm unclear about is whether I'm receiving low res 480p digital, or am I receiving the HD signals from these broadcasters?
...
It did not find KNTV-11's digital simulcast (which I'm a little confused about, but from reading here, at KNTV's website, and possibly at Comcast -- that KNTV 11D will be on 11.1. I did get 11.2, their digital program info signal, but 11.1 had no signal. Was that a Comcast malfunction, or did KNTV loose their digital simulcast Tuesday evening?

Here's my real question for the group. The broadcasters are using their digital channel assignments to send true HD signals, I presume? Each TV station received a previously unused UHF channel allocation for their new DTV signal -- except KNTV which apparently received VHF channel 12 for their DTV.

So the broadcasters are transmitting either Low Res DTV or HDTV -- but not both simultaneously (I'm deducing) -- based on the program material they have available. Is Comcast stepping into the bit-stream, and downgrading an HD signal to low res DTV?

(One thing I didn't realize when I started this was that although the existing analog signals (NTSC) have the same modulation scheme over the air as on the cable, so your set works for both, in the digital world over the air uses ATSC and the cable uses QAM, two different modulation schemes and completely different frequencies. Some digital TV equipment only has ATSC, obviously yours has both.)

Anyway, usually the xxx.1 channel is the one broadcasting in hi resolution (1080i or 720p) while the others subchannels are in lower resolution. The hi res is required for HD programming, although not all programming on the xxx.1 channels is in HD. Many online program guides like those for the local stations will indicate whether the program is in HD or not. But since you are only watching on an analog TV, you probably won't be able to tell the difference in HD vs SD except by noticing whether it is in a 4:3 or 16:9 ratio (the picture quality should be very good in either case).

In the past, some broadcast stations were sending identical programming (HD on xxx.1 and SD xxx.2) simultaneously, but now more commonly there is separate programming on the various subchannels (like Weather Plus or ABC news channel).

Other than capturing the bit stream from the broadcast source and modulating it in the QAM format for the cable, Comcast does not do anything to the signal like downgrading the resolution. There are outages, of course, and maybe that is why you were not getting the main KNTV channel. (Was 11.2 "Weather Plus" programming?) Outages are getting more infrequent as more people watch and equipment and training gets better.

Jim in 94087 (still not upgraded just south and east of Fremont/Mary)

tsk...how many channels were going out on you just before the new channels went live for you? The only channel I've seen problems with recently is KTVU-HD. When it goes out, the analog channel is fine.
All of my channels go out, analog and digital.

Does Comcast in the bay area have AMC-HD OnDemand? I noticed a poster in the Stockton area has it. I'd like to see "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" in HD, given of course that Comcast will have OnDemand in my area whenever the upgrade here goes live.

Frankly, I wish DirecTV would just pick up the channel, that way I wouldn't have to deal with a Comcast STB to view the material.

..

Other than capturing the bit stream from the broadcast source and modulating it in the QAM format for the cable, Comcast does not do anything to the signal like downgrading the resolution. ...

Jim in 94087 (still not upgraded just south and east of Fremont/Mary)

Contrast that to the satellite providers who often recompress the signal to fit more on the transponder's bandwidth. And then there are those who are apparently taking the MPEG2 HD signal and recompressing as H.264.

I was pretty happy with the HD quality on cable for the FTA channels I could receive (no plan to get a cable box to view encrypted HD channels)

Keep in mind Comcast re-transmits all (almost all?) of the analog stations in digital (QAM) form, these are probably getting picked up by your tuner as well, or at least some of them, which are in the clear. On my set they come thru in the 96.x range I believe (like 96.1, 96.2, 96.3, etc..)

These are the "ADS" versions, and they are 480i digital, and in various resolutions. Some are 704x480, but some are less like 512x480(?).

The actual digital broadcasts (aka "high def") like KTVU-HD, KPIX-HD, etc... are always going to be 720p or 1080i - though as mentioned, much of the time (nearly all of the time, on some stations) what you get is merely upconverted standard-def programs.

Does Comcast in the bay area have AMC-HD OnDemand? I noticed a poster in the Stockton area has it. I'd like to see "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" in HD, given of course that Comcast will have OnDemand in my area whenever the upgrade here goes live.

I noticed sometime back. There were a lot of "Mad Men" episodes in HD. I don't remember Breaking Bad. might have been added recently.

The only channel I've seen problems with recently is KTVU-HD. When it goes out, the analog channel is fine.

Anyone else have this problem the last few nights?

I had KTVU-HD freezes both Monday and Tuesday nights and was completely out about a few hours last week, I don't remember the day.

I'd also like to know what new channels you got lichen86. Westside SR channel lineup could be different than eastside.

Still nothing 94086 Mathilda and Washington... Our flyers that we received over the xmas break said between 1.16 and 2.16 would be the upgrade, but given my various poor experiences with Comcast, I'm not going to hold my breath.

When we moved from West SJ to downtown SV five years ago, our digital cable cost went up for the same package and lost 1/4 of the digital channels we had in SJ... I've been fairly unhappy ever since. It looks like the new lineup will fix a lot of that, though, finally.

I've had the rebuilt digital channel lineup for about a week or so now (Sunnyvale - Fair Oaks Ave between El Camino and Old S.F. Rd). Does anyone know if the NHL Network is supposed to be part of the rebuilt lineup? I have a TiVo Series3 with CableCARDs and I get the NHL Network on channel 419 but there is no guide data for it and on Zap2it, there is no NHL Network listed in the 94086 channel guide.

In the mean time, I've had the on again, off again problem with my high speed internet connection speeds dropping well below 1 Mbps in the evenings. I had my second Comcast tech visit my home to troubleshoot this and this guy basically said the slow speeds are all due to the cable rebuild work in Sunnyvale. Specifically, work on the headend system is probably what is causing my issue. Unfortunately, he also said that connection speeds will be up and down until at least MARCH. Sorry, but I am not going to pay good money for a service that is basically not usable for a couple of months-- if not longer. I just had DSL installed in my home and I'm now getting a steady 5 Mbps connection speed, and I'll be canceling my Comcast HSI. Too bad. When it was working it was great. Maybe I'll go back to it in a year or so when all this rebuild work is completely done.

I've had the rebuilt digital channel lineup for about a week or so now (Sunnyvale - Fair Oaks Ave between El Camino and Old S.F. Rd). Does anyone know if the NHL Network is supposed to be part of the rebuilt lineup? I have a TiVo Series3 with CableCARDs and I get the NHL Network on channel 419 but there is no guide data for it and on Zap2it, there is no NHL Network listed in the 94086 channel guide.

tvplanner.comcast.net, select Sunnyvale-Digital Rebuild as the channel listing... doesn't show the NHL network on 419, so Comcast's notion of your channel guide is missing that network, I'd call up Comcast and ask that this be corrected, if you really are getting it on that channel. If Comcast published an incomplete channel list, that would certainly explain why the TiVo doesn't know it's there.

I'm definitely looking forward to this kind of fun with my TiVoHD when they flip my switch to the new listing ;0)

Actually I was impressed with how up to date my TiVo guide was after the lineup change. Once I discovered I had the new channels, I re-ran Guided Setup and all the new guide info was there. It wasn't 100% complete, but it was probably about 95% complete.

Of course it doesn't take much to impress me since I used to work at TiVo... :)

I noticed sometime back. There were a lot of "Mad Men" episodes in HD. I don't remember Breaking Bad. might have been added recently.

Thanks.

(One thing I didn't realize when I started this was that although the existing analog signals (NTSC) have the same modulation scheme over the air as on the cable, so your set works for both, in the digital world over the air uses ATSC and the cable uses QAM, two different modulation schemes and completely different frequencies. Some digital TV equipment only has ATSC, obviously yours has both.
ATSC is a broadcast standard. 8VSB is the modulation scheme specified by ATSC. There is overlap in the frequency space though the conversion from channel # to frequency is different.

(One thing I didn't realize when I started this was that although the existing analog signals (NTSC) have the same modulation scheme over the air as on the cable, so your set works for both, in the digital world over the air uses ATSC and the cable uses QAM, two different modulation schemes and completely different frequencies. Some digital TV equipment only has ATSC, obviously yours has both.)


Jim,

My confusion was that I'd searched product literature, wanting to get a VCR/DVD R that had a built-in "digital" tuner -- and discovered that Panasonic identified their's as ATSC. Nowhere in their product literature have I seen any reference to QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation -- a scheme which I believe was developed at Bell Labs back in the 1960s or 1970s). QAM is often used on satellite uplinks and downlinks as well as by terrestrial microwave systems (though perhaps not for DirectTV or DishNetwork -- but by satellite operators).

Panasonice doesn't mention QAM in their specifications, but they do mention Analog/Digital cable compatibility (you have to dig to find it): http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/shop/Video/DVD-Recorders-Players/DVD-Recorders/model.DMR-EZ47VK.O_11002_7000000000000005702#tabsection

Given that lack of transparency, and given that most of the Audio/Video sales people barely know channel 2 from channel 3 -- how could a naive buyer ever know about the dual digital capability requirement when making a product choice? I assumed that asking for ATSC was enough -- because I had never looked at this Forum or seen any product info that mentioned QAM. Heavens knows that Comcast ain't telling!!

So did we just "luck out" or are most manufacturers building in both capabilities on the HDTV-capable tuners?

Jim,

My confusion was that I'd searched product literature, wanting to get a VCR/DVD R that had a built-in "digital" tuner -- and discovered that Panasonic identified their's as ATSC. Nowhere in their product literature have I seen any reference to QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation -- a scheme which I believe was developed at Bell Labs back in the 1960s or 1970s). QAM is often used on satellite uplinks and downlinks as well as by terrestrial microwave systems (though perhaps not for DirectTV or DishNetwork -- but by satellite operators).

Panasonice doesn't mention QAM in their specifications, but they do mention Analog/Digital cable compatibility (you have to dig to find it): http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/shop/Video/DVD-Recorders-Players/DVD-Recorders/model.DMR-EZ47VK.O_11002_7000000000000005702#tabsection

Given that lack of transparency, and given that most of the Audio/Video sales people barely know channel 2 from channel 3 -- how could a naive buyer ever know about the dual digital capability requirement when making a product choice? I assumed that asking for ATSC was enough -- because I had never looked at this Forum or seen any product info that mentioned QAM. Heavens knows that Comcast ain't telling!!

So did we just "luck out" or are most manufacturers building in both capabilities on the HDTV-capable tuners?

MrWheels

I do feel your pain. The simple answer is that the naive buyer is basically SOL, because they get wrong or conflicting information from sales people and cable suppliers. As you see on this thread, people are routinely told by Comcast CSR's that they cannot get digital cable without a separate cable box and never heard of QAM (or even the idea of a "digital cable ready" TV). On a recent service call I had to ask to be transferred up 2 higher levels of supervisors before I found one I could talk to about it. And as you found, even product specs are spotty at best. (Sometimes you will see a mention like "digital cable compatible".) I now get the majority of my info from tech forums like this, but I was like you with the first set I bought, I "lucked out" and got one that would get digital cable channels.

I honestly don't know how widespread QAM is in video products these days. I have one friend with a widescreen set that has it and another one that doesn't. I have a vague feeling the lower end (cheaper) sets don't have it. I am happy to see that the equipment you bought had it even though they didn't make a point of it. Maybe it will become a common feature. And hopefully the cable company will continue to be required to carry the digital broadcast programming unencrypted so we can use it!

Good luck
Jim

When you get the time, an HD channel list would be appreciated. :)

I'm in SE Santa Rosa off of the southern end of Summerfield Rd. Comcast says we should be live on the new system the week of Feb. 6th. Here is a list of the HD channels from the new channel lineup they sent.

HIGH-DEFINITION TELEVISION (HDTV)
Limited Basic HD
702 KTVU (FOX) HD
703 KNTV (NBC) HD
704 KRON - HD
705 KPIX (CBS) HD
706 KICU HD
707 KGO - (ABC) HD
709 KOED - HD
712 KBCW - HD
Digital Classic HD
720 FSN Bay Area HD
722 Versus/Golf HD (NEW)
724 ESPN HD
725 ESPN2 HD (NEW)
734 A&E HD (NEW)
735 TBS HD (NEW)
737 TNT HD (NEW)
738 USA HD (NEW)
739 Universal HD (NEW)
740 MOJO HD (NEW)
743 MHO (NEW)
746 HGTV HD (NEW)
750 Discovery HD
754 Discovery Theater HD (NEW)
757 National Geographic HD (NEW)
758 History HD (NEW)
Sports Entertainment HD
730 NFL Network HD (NEW)
Premium Service HD
770 HBO HD
780 STARZ HD
785 Showtime HD (NEW)
792 Cinemax HD

Thanks for the list BC59 and welcome to the thread. Something for me to look forward to while I hurry up and wait for my neighborhood to have Comcast turn the node on.

Yes, thanks. :)


For those that have 750-860MHz systems, is that above list the sum total of HD channels that you have?

Yes, thanks. :)


For those that have 750-860MHz systems, is that above list the sum total of HD channels that you have?

Yep.....

Yep.....

Wasn't Comcast going to add a few more channels, or has that already happened? IOW, are we waiting for some channels that we were told about, or is what we have all were getting, at least for the time being.

I'd sure like to SciFi-HD on that list now that Comcast is providing it in other areas.

Does Comcast in the bay area have AMC-HD OnDemand? I noticed a poster in the Stockton area has it. I'd like to see "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" in HD, given of course that Comcast will have OnDemand in my area whenever the upgrade here goes live.

Frankly, I wish DirecTV would just pick up the channel, that way I wouldn't have to deal with a Comcast STB to view the material.

It took a couple of days so it wasn't the "next day" as Comcast advertises but "Breaking Bad" is now available OnDemand in HD. I enjoyed the show so will keep watching.

It took a couple of days so it wasn't the "next day" as Comcast advertises but "Breaking Bad" is now available OnDemand in HD. I enjoyed the show so will keep watching.

Sounds great, I just don't know how soon we'll have OnDemand up here, and whether 1 show is worth getting a Comcast STB for. Do OnDemand shows stay available? For example, if I were to wait until all the eps have aired would they all be available so I could watch them all at once?

MrWheels

I do feel your pain. The simple answer is that the naive buyer is basically SOL, because they get wrong or conflicting information from sales people and cable suppliers. As you see on this thread, people are routinely told by Comcast CSR's that they cannot get digital cable without a separate cable box and never heard of QAM (or even the idea of a "digital cable ready" TV). On a recent service call I had to ask to be transferred up 2 higher levels of supervisors before I found one I could talk to about it. And as you found, even product specs are spotty at best. (Sometimes you will see a mention like "digital cable compatible".) I now get the majority of my info from tech forums like this, but I was like you with the first set I bought, I "lucked out" and got one that would get digital cable channels.

I honestly don't know how widespread QAM is in video products these days. I have one friend with a widescreen set that has it and another one that doesn't. I have a vague feeling the lower end (cheaper) sets don't have it. I am happy to see that the equipment you bought had it even though they didn't make a point of it. Maybe it will become a common feature. And hopefully the cable company will continue to be required to carry the digital broadcast programming unencrypted so we can use it!

Good luck
Jim

When I went shopping with my sister I had already done research on what sets sold where have QAM. I suggested strongly the she get a set with QAM though she had indicated they would probably get an HD STB from Comcast so it wasn't an absolute necessity. It just happened that the set she chose had it. Though she didn't choose a Vizio set I had in my research noted that apparently they only make sets with QAM tuners. This should be an important point for stores as I would suspect customers who have only basic cable might take an ATSC tuner only set home and bring it back because it "didn't work." So indicating in some way the set works with basic cable is wise. I think only Best Buy had such information on their price cards with each set. It is spotty at other stores and I've seen sets I knew had QAM but didn't list it.

I wonder how cheap it would be to make a QAM to ATSC converter if possible. Seems there might be an emerging market for such as box if it could cost a fraction of an STB. :D

On demand shows expire, so I doubt you would be able to watch them all at once.

On demand shows expire, so I doubt you would be able to watch them all at once.

Well, that's a bummer.

Sounds great, I just don't know how soon we'll have OnDemand up here, and whether 1 show is worth getting a Comcast STB for. Do OnDemand shows stay available? For example, if I were to wait until all the eps have aired would they all be available so I could watch them all at once?

I don't recall if "Mad Men" had all episodes available at the end of its run. But usually they only make the last few episodes available. These should also be available on BluRay at some point.

Sounds great, I just don't know how soon we'll have OnDemand up here, and whether 1 show is worth getting a Comcast STB for. Do OnDemand shows stay available? For example, if I were to wait until all the eps have aired would they all be available so I could watch them all at once?

Jim,

I just checked a couple of network shows that are on OnDemand, like CSI, ( HD of course :) ) and those look like they're kept about a month. I checked AMC-HD and there's 3 programs there but it's a recent add to OnDemand so I don't know how long those will be kept but I would imagine if it's a weekly show they would keep them for about a month. There are other network series that are available on OnDemand but they're not HD, like CSI New York, NCIS etc.... but they are there if you miss a episode or just want to review what's been shown and there is about a months worth there.

As far as when you will get OnDemand, I know when you get your area upgraded it should be with OnDemand at the same time. It use to be 30 days after the upgrade but they've gotten most of the bugs worked out so they can do it all at once. But the way your area was modified by the last cable owners I don't know if that will be the case for you but if it's not with the initial upgrade it should be within 30 days after that, it really depends on how much upgrading they had to do.

Laters,
Mikef5

I don't recall if "Mad Men" had all episodes available at the end of its run. But usually they only make the last few episodes available. These should also be available on BluRay at some point.

Yes, but they both look like too good a show to wait that long. The DirecTV broadcast wasn't bad at all, in fact, I was a bit shocked at how good it actually did look for an SD channel.

Jim,

I just checked a couple of network shows that are on OnDemand, like CSI, ( HD of course :) ) and those look like they're kept about a month. I checked AMC-HD and there's 3 programs there but it's a recent add to OnDemand so I don't know how long those will be kept but I would imagine if it's a weekly show they would keep them for about a month. There are other network series that are available on OnDemand but they're not HD, like CSI New York, NCIS etc.... but they are there if you miss a episode or just want to review what's been shown and there is about a months worth there.

As far as when you will get OnDemand, I know when you get your area upgraded it should be with OnDemand at the same time. It use to be 30 days after the upgrade but they've gotten most of the bugs worked out so they can do it all at once. But the way your area was modified by the last cable owners I don't know if that will be the case for you but if it's not with the initial upgrade it should be within 30 days after that, it really depends on how much upgrading they had to do.

Laters,
Mikef5

Yeah, with all the info everyone has posted about OnDemand I don't think it's going to be something I'm interested in at this point since I'm really not that interested in renting a Comcast STB. If I could see all the shows over a few weeks, then I might rent the STB, but to keep it every month just for one show...

Yeah, with all the info everyone has posted about OnDemand I don't think it's going to be something I'm interested in at this point since I'm really not that interested in renting a Comcast STB. If I could see all the shows over a few weeks, then I might rent the STB, but to keep it every month just for one show...

Jim,

I don't know what your expectations are for OnDemand but for me it's well worth having the ability to access it. I'm hoping that the "tuner resolver" for the TivoHD will also be usable with OnDemand and not just for SDV so I can use that and drop the box I have now but if not I will get a non-dvr box just for OnDemand. Personally, I use OnDemand all the time when there's nothing on tv and with the strike going on and no new episodes being cranked out by the networks, I can always find something on OnDemand to watch. My suggestion would be rent the box for a month and give OnDemand a good look see and if it's not your cup of tea send the box back, try that with the SatCo's... ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Jim,

I don't know what your expectations are for OnDemand but for me it's well worth having the ability to access it. I'm hoping that the "tuner resolver" for the TivoHD will also be usable with OnDemand and not just for SDV so I can use that and drop the box I have now but if not I will get a non-dvr box just for OnDemand. Personally, I use OnDemand all the time when there's nothing on tv and with the strike going on and no new episodes being cranked out by the networks, I can always find something on OnDemand to watch. My suggestion would be rent the box for a month and give OnDemand a good look see and if it's not your cup of tea send the box back, try that with the SatCo's... ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Yes, I might give it a try - I'd just like to be able to actually see it here someday. :D;)

Yes, I might give it a try - I'd just like to be able to actually see it here someday. :D;)

Looks like a couple of places in your area have gone live so it should be just a matter of time before your's gets activated. I wish I could give you a definite time for your activation but at least it's coming for sure now, I'm sure you can remember a couple of years ago when we ( of the 550 MHz areas ) were told that we were SOL as far as upgrades and now it's finally getting done :)

Laters,
Mikef5

When I went shopping with my sister I had already done research on what sets sold where have QAM. I suggested strongly the she get a set with QAM though she had indicated they would probably get an HD STB from Comcast so it wasn't an absolute necessity. It just happened that the set she chose had it. Though she didn't choose a Vizio set I had in my research noted that apparently they only make sets with QAM tuners. This should be an important point for stores as I would suspect customers who have only basic cable might take an ATSC tuner only set home and bring it back because it "didn't work." So indicating in some way the set works with basic cable is wise. I think only Best Buy had such information on their price cards with each set. It is spotty at other stores and I've seen sets I knew had QAM but didn't list it.

I wonder how cheap it would be to make a QAM to ATSC converter if possible. Seems there might be an emerging market for such as box if it could cost a fraction of an STB. :D

All the new flat panel TV's that I have looked at have QAM and ATSC tuners built-in. And I have looked at a lot of TV's, having bought 3 of them in the last 4 months. It's hard to find a new TV that does not have that feature. Edit: TV's 13" and larger are required to have ATSC tuner.

Well, that's a bummer.
There are ton of usability problems with OnDemand. For e.g. if you stop watching through half of the show and come back to watch it more than 24hrs later, you need to start from the beginning and it's fastFwd is just twice faster.

Comcast wants to dump content there just to advertise a number in their ads. It is so primitive and I haven't seen even iota of improvement since its start.

They need to "chapterize" those files for OnDemand if if they were just dumb 5 or 10 minute increments. Then you could get to a point in a show you didn't finish more than 24 hours ago. A lot of VOD the networks do on the Internet is chapterized at commercial breaks. I also once had an outage during a show and had to wait 10 minutes while it fast forwarded to the point where it went out as it had lost the stream position.

Here are a couple of links for interesting blogs about HD bitrates, HD-lite, etc.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=962
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=959

I didn't know that Blu-ray has higher max bitrates than HD-DVD, and OTA ATSC has a bitrate of 19.39mbps. What do you all think about his assertion that digital cable tops out at about 16mbps? Is there any way to check the bitrate that we are actually receiving?

I got letter today stating that hayward will be getting new channels fro February 25th till March 25th

There are ton of usability problems with OnDemand. For e.g. if you stop watching through half of the show and come back to watch it more than 24hrs later, you need to start from the beginning and it's fastFwd is just twice faster.

Comcast wants to dump content there just to advertise a number in their ads. It is so primitive and I haven't seen even iota of improvement since its start.

Also: I've not yet found an OnDemand show that supports 5.1 audio, even if the original show was 5.1 (i.e. CSI). And, in many cases the shows are grainer implying a bandwidth reduction. The movies are even worse.

It's ok if you miss a show in a series (where any quality is ok to get caught up), but as a stand alone feature, it's lacking and hardly worth it as a reason to go to Comcast.

-Dave

Actually, "graininess" does not result from bandwidth reduction. BW reduction (at fixed resolution) gives macroblocking at times of rapid changes in large parts of the scene.

All the new flat panel TV's that I have looked at have QAM and ATSC tuners built-in. And I have looked at a lot of TV's, having bought 3 of them in the last 4 months. It's hard to find a new TV that does not have that feature. Edit: TV's 13" and larger are required to have ATSC tuner.

Clau,

It seems only plausible that all new TV sets would have ATSC tuners (as well as conventional analog tuners) or they'd be unworkable (with an STB) in 12 months.

In my search, I knew I wanted a "digital" tuner (and later learned the initials ATSC), but had no idea that cable providers would be using a totally different modulation scheme than OTA broadcasters -- and that was the point of my initial comment. I'd never heard of QAM signals for DTV, and no product literature I've seen mentions it.

Clau,

It seems only plausible that all new TV sets would have ATSC tuners (as well as conventional analog tuners) or they'd be unworkable (with an STB) in 12 months.

In my search, I knew I wanted a "digital" tuner (and later learned the initials ATSC), but had no idea that cable providers would be using a totally different modulation scheme than OTA broadcasters -- and that was the point of my initial comment. I'd never heard of QAM signals for DTV, and no product literature I've seen mentions it.

Well, actually just about all the product brochures mention QAM, if they have it. Sometimes the display tags in the stores don't mention it, though.

I have had QAM tuners and CableCard tuners since 2004, so I have definitely known about QAM for probably at least 5 years now. I know Panny plasmas have QAM since at least 4 years ago.

This year all models I look at have both QAM and ATSC tuners. That was not the case last year, when a lot of models only have ATSC but no QAM.

Here are a couple of links for interesting blogs about HD bitrates, HD-lite, etc.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=962
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=959



I'm not a huge fan of OnDemand--except when friends bring over their very young children and I can turn on low def Thomas the Tank Engine without digging through the basement for my own family's copies. But from time to time I will watch one of the free HD offerings. The general picture quality seems quite good, although I can't say that I've spent any time seriously evaluating the satellite HD offerings. The bigger problem for me with OnDemand HD is the fairly regular--must happen a dozen times during the course of a movie--dropped or pixellated frames. The bulk of the movies looks beautiful, but you'll get a shudder in the presentation as frames are dropped. We watched The River Wild (currently among the free HD movie offerings) last night, and saw the dropped frames and occasional digital blocking. It seemed like this occurred more in the high motion scenes (in that movie, scenes as the raft shoots the rapids) but that might be my imagination. Don't know if I've got a buggy 6412 DVR, whether this is a limitation of the 6412 DVR, a limitation of the OnDemand streaming process, or a problem with the digital transfer that Comcast is using.

All in all, for non-free movies is sure wouldn't cause me to want to go with OnDemand vs. a Blu-Ray rental or purchase.

We just got a Pio 6010 that has a cable card slot. What channels does Comcast's cable card pass thru? Does it include the HD channels? Does Comcast charge extra for the card if you already have an HD-DVR?

Thanks,
Craig

We just got a Pio 6010 that has a cable card slot. What channels does Comcast's cable card pass thru? Does it include the HD channels? Does Comcast charge extra for the card if you already have an HD-DVR?

Thanks,
Craig

All channels are decrypted. The only ones that are not are OnDemand and PPV. Yes, it included HD channels. If you have an HD-DVR from Comcast, you will be charged ~$1.79/month for the CableCARD and ~$6.99/month for the "extra outlet".

OnDemand is not encrypted. That was a problem and probably why HBO pulled their stuff. Apparently the way OnDemand works it can't be encrypted (as was pointed out in an article I read a while back probably somewhere on this forum -- I think it was a reference to a NYTimes article). And bitrates for a lot of the stuff (except probably the ones you pay for) are often lower probably to free up more bandwidth.

I have both BluRay and HD-DVD and both provide the best media source for HD. Now that everyone seems to have jumped on the BluRay boat we may see more commitment for rental places. Locally both Blockbuster and Hollywood Video (yup there's one still in business here) have HD rentals. Blockbuster only BluRay and a limited selection while HV both and perhaps more of a selection than BB. However, from what I understand renting HD is in the BB flat-fee program and with HV it is not so you wind up paying $6 per rental even if you are on their MVP program. I've written HV about that and got a so-so response from them.

I also don't expect higher bitrate OnDemand anytime soon especially anything that will compare with HD disks. They would probably have to switch to MPEG-4 (AVCHD) for that and you can't just pop an MPEG-4 decoder into the boxes that Comcast has out there.

Now I think some network producers are being careful about what is being filmed to avoid pixelation as it looks like some shows avoid shots that might result in that. There was not much pixelation at all in AMC's "Breaking Bad." But then go look at the title sequence for CSI and it even pixelates over broadcast and is worse OnDemand.

Well, actually just about all the product brochures mention QAM, if they have it. Sometimes the display tags in the stores don't mention it, though.

I have had QAM tuners and CableCard tuners since 2004, so I have definitely known about QAM for probably at least 5 years now. I know Panny plasmas have QAM since at least 4 years ago.

This year all models I look at have both QAM and ATSC tuners. That was not the case last year, when a lot of models only have ATSC but no QAM.

Clau,

You evidently missed my original post on this topic -- and I included a link to Panasonic's on-line product info. There's no mention of QAM, and the sales person at the store didn't mention it. The first time I'd heard of QAM being used by cable providers was here, after I'd purchased the VCR/DVD player-recorder.

My whole point in posting this thread was in the nature of a complaint to the consumer electronics industry not being more clear about the differences in DTV schemes, OTA vs. Cable. And wondered, in the post, about whether we'd just lucked out in getting a Panasonic device with both ATSC and QAM. I was a nearly naive shopper, and knew that I wanted a device with a digital tuner, but I had no particular knowledge of the details of the digital tuners and modulation schemes. The Panasonic DMR-EZ47VK combo VCR/DVD Recorder *does* say it as an ATSC digital tuner -- but very assuredly doesn't mention QAM anywhere I've seen -- online or in print. I guess I'd like to see the online info and the sales floor people ought to clearly point out the differences between over-the-air digital and cable digital transmissions, instead of letting the consumer shop for products without spelling out simply and clearly what's required to receive DTV.

And, by the way, there's room for complaint to Comcast here too -- for being anything but transparent to consumers. Why is it that consumer focused companies feel it's ok to withhold publicly available information that may have an important bearing on buying decisions? Do they support fraudulent claims to consumers? Or deliberate withholding of relevant information (I thought I'd have to subscribe to Comcast's HDTV service in order to receive any HD signals whereas, in the case of OTA broadcasts retransmitted on the cable system, that's not necessary).

In the product overview, Panasonic says this:

Features

* Digital Broadcast Capable with Built-In ATSC4 Tuner
* Automatic Program Information Acquisition (ATSC4)
* 2x LP Horizontal Resolution (500 lines)
* Progressive Scan
* Long Time Recording with High Picture Quality (EP mode: 8 hours)
* Real-Time Variable Bit Rate Control
* EZ Sync™ HDAVI Control
* HDMI Simple Connection (HDMI Ver. 1.3)
* Super Multi-Format Recording & Playback5
* DivX Playback6
* JPEG View with SD Slot
* One-Touch 2-Way Copying


But only by searching their online brochure (after finding this Forum and after purchasing the product), I did find that the Technical Specifications says:

TV Channel Analog/Digital Analog/Digital 2-69ch
CATV Channel Analog/Digital Analog/Digital 1-135ch

down near the bottom of the page.

Here's the link again: http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/shop/Video/DVD-Recorders-Players/DVD-Recorders/model.DMR-EZ47VK.O_11002_7000000000000005702#tabsection

wheels--

You're right that Panasonic chose to avoid "QAM" but the following is all that Joe&Jane 6pak needed to know about this anyway:

TV Channel Analog/Digital Analog/Digital 2-69ch
CATV Channel Analog/Digital Analog/Digital 1-135ch

Digital CATV == QAM.

But what I can't figure out from that brochure is whether or not the durn thing will record DTV to DVD. If so, how do you like having to change disks every 1/2 hour???

EDIT: Oh, OK, I get it, I think. The unit evidently down rezzes HDTV to 480p (or worse) to record up to 8 hours on one DVD. Yech! :(

Did Comcast redo the OTA channels?

My folks used to get 2-1, 4-1, 5-1, 7-1, 9-1 and 11-1.

But now those can't be tuned, the TV says weak or encrypted signal.

Instead, KPIX DT is on something like 79-1 and KTVU DT is on 79-2.

Don't know where KGO-DT is.

wheels--

You're right that Panasonic chose to avoid "QAM" but the following is all that Joe&Jane 6pak needed to know about this anyway:


Quote:
TV Channel Analog/Digital Analog/Digital 2-69ch
CATV Channel Analog/Digital Analog/Digital 1-135ch


Digital CATV == QAM.

But what I can't figure out from that brochure is whether or not the durn thing will record DTV to DVD. If so, how do you like having to change disks every 1/2 hour???

EDIT: Oh, OK, I get it, I think. The unit evidently down rezzes HDTV to 480p (or worse) to record up to 8 hours on one DVD. Yech! :(

You're right, but merely understanding that there's a difference between OTA and Cable is buried far into their online document. I had to search for it. How many casual consumers go to that trouble? And my complaint was in favor of providing full information to casual consumers.

I think you guys are confusing encryption and copy protection.

All the channels on cable are encrypted except for the local broadcast stations and those channels that are available OTA, otherwise you would not need a cable box to view premium channels. Most of the channels don't have copy protection on them or have varying degrees of copy protection on them which has nothing to do with signal encryption, it merely prevents you from copying that content off the cable box. Encryption is a security feature which prevents you from viewing unauthorized channels without having a proper decryption box or card and are signed up for the proper digital package.

OnDemand is encrypted, you can't view it without a box. If you think it's not encrypted then please tell me what channel or frequency I can tune my tv to to receive it ???
I have no idea if it has copy protection enabled on it but I see no reason why it would but it could.

The reason that HBO pulled it's OnDemand HD content off cable has nothing to do with encryption or copy protection, if it was then they would've pulled their standard definition OnDemand also but it's still there. If you keep up with industry news you would have seen that HBO and Time Warner are going to do their own version of OnDemand with their own content and will be rolling it out later this year. Is this lost of HBO-HD OnDemand going to affect Comcast permanently ?? I don't know but I'll ask Mr. J. and see what he can find out.

Laters,
Mikef5

I got letter today stating that hayward will be getting new channels fro February 25th till March 25th

I hope it is sooner than later for you. I got my second letter around Christmas and it stated: "During the weeks of January 21st - February 18th, look for more channels..." Well, its the end of the first week and... nothing. It's a funny thing how my recent bill increased this month with no change in the channels!:mad:

Around here OnDemand is on 101-104. Try those channels though it may be different in different areas. I can tune it in with HDHomeRun. Looks like the neighbors are pretty much watching SD stuff today. Sometimes they're watching more interesting stuff. :D
http://www.slate.com/id/2167389/pagenum/all/

Around here OnDemand is on 101-104. Try those channels though it may be different in different areas. I can tune it in with HDHomeRun. Looks like the neighbors are pretty much watching SD stuff today. Sometimes they're watching more interesting stuff. :D
http://www.slate.com/id/2167389/pagenum/all/

Brian,

You're sure you're watching OnDemand and not some movie channel that they forgot to encrypt ?? I know that there are a couple of channels in my loop that should be encrypted but they're not and I'm not going to tell them they're not encrypted. ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Nope, those are OnDemand. Did you read the article? Comcast is already well aware of it. Try selecting a show OnDemand and then tune in that range and you'll find it. I'm surprised you weren't aware of this. I think it's been discussed elsewhere on the forum like the HTPC section. I'm sure someday they'll work out how to encrypt the signals but that might require new boxes. Just to be clear you can only monitor what is on those streams not order a show, that DOES require a box.

Nope, those are OnDemand. Did you read the article? Comcast is already well aware of it. Try selecting a show OnDemand and then tune in that range and you'll find it. I'm surprised you weren't aware of this. I think it's been discussed elsewhere on the forum like the HTPC section. I'm sure someday they'll work out how to encrypt the signals but that might require new boxes. Just to be clear you can only monitor what is on those streams not order a show, that DOES require a box.
Brian,

Well, that's news to me and thanks for the link to the article, quite interesting ;) and something some new people ( and old people :) ) in the forum should read ( might help explain what digital and cable are about ). But like the article said, cable is going to eventually encrypt VOD and probably sooner than later. Of course since the frequency changes all the time and since you can't control what's shown or when it's shown it's kind of not very usable without the box and probably not high on their priority list so enjoy it while you can and thanks for enlightening me ;).

Laters,
Mikef5

Clau,

You evidently missed my original post on this topic -- and I included a link to Panasonic's on-line product info. There's no mention of QAM, and the sales person at the store didn't mention it. The first time I'd heard of QAM being used by cable providers was here, after I'd purchased the VCR/DVD player-recorder.

My whole point in posting this thread was in the nature of a complaint to the consumer electronics industry not being more clear about the differences in DTV schemes, OTA vs. Cable. And wondered, in the post, about whether we'd just lucked out in getting a Panasonic device with both ATSC and QAM. I was a nearly naive shopper, and knew that I wanted a device with a digital tuner, but I had no particular knowledge of the details of the digital tuners and modulation schemes. The Panasonic DMR-EZ47VK combo VCR/DVD Recorder *does* say it as an ATSC digital tuner -- but very assuredly doesn't mention QAM anywhere I've seen -- online or in print. I guess I'd like to see the online info and the sales floor people ought to clearly point out the differences between over-the-air digital and cable digital transmissions, instead of letting the consumer shop for products without spelling out simply and clearly what's required to receive DTV.

And, by the way, there's room for complaint to Comcast here too -- for being anything but transparent to consumers. Why is it that consumer focused companies feel it's ok to withhold publicly available information that may have an important bearing on buying decisions? Do they support fraudulent claims to consumers? Or deliberate withholding of relevant information (I thought I'd have to subscribe to Comcast's HDTV service in order to receive any HD signals whereas, in the case of OTA broadcasts retransmitted on the cable system, that's not necessary).

In the product overview, Panasonic says this:

Features

* Digital Broadcast Capable with Built-In ATSC4 Tuner
* Automatic Program Information Acquisition (ATSC4)
* 2x LP Horizontal Resolution (500 lines)
* Progressive Scan
* Long Time Recording with High Picture Quality (EP mode: 8 hours)
* Real-Time Variable Bit Rate Control
* EZ Sync™ HDAVI Control
* HDMI Simple Connection (HDMI Ver. 1.3)
* Super Multi-Format Recording & Playback5
* DivX Playback6
* JPEG View with SD Slot
* One-Touch 2-Way Copying


But only by searching their online brochure (after finding this Forum and after purchasing the product), I did find that the Technical Specifications says:

TV Channel Analog/Digital Analog/Digital 2-69ch
CATV Channel Analog/Digital Analog/Digital 1-135ch

down near the bottom of the page.

Here's the link again: http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/shop/Video/DVD-Recorders-Players/DVD-Recorders/model.DMR-EZ47VK.O_11002_7000000000000005702#tabsection

Well, it sounds like you are very unhappy that no one told you about QAM :).

Well, I looked at Samsung, Pioneer and Sony online. On the online brochures, they all mention clear QAM or CableCard, so it's not like they are trying to hide that from you. I suggest that the Panasonic DVR's apparent omission of QAM is an exception and not a rule?

As far as the CE manufacturers not educating customers, that has always been the case. Try figuring out what the various HDMI standards mean, and what you need to connect to your latest TV. Or try to have them explain to you deinterlacing, upconversion, 720p vs 1080i vs 1080p, or even what ATSC means. They are not in the business of educating consumers, and neither is Comcast interested in educating you about how to get digital channels without using their equipment. Compared to these other sources of confusion, the lack of mention of QAM on a product webpage seems a fairly trivial mistake.

Most consumers have no idea what those features mean, and they probably don't care about most of those features. One of my relatives was using the RF output from the Comcast set top box feeding a 60-inch TV because that's how the Comcast installer set it up.

Nope, those are OnDemand. Did you read the article? Comcast is already well aware of it. Try selecting a show OnDemand and then tune in that range and you'll find it. I'm surprised you weren't aware of this. I think it's been discussed elsewhere on the forum like the HTPC section. I'm sure someday they'll work out how to encrypt the signals but that might require new boxes. Just to be clear you can only monitor what is on those streams not order a show, that DOES require a box.

It can get interesting... I have a friend that couldn't figure out what he was seeing on some oddball channels some of the time, including backing up, pausing and playing again. :p

HIGH-DEFINITION TELEVISION (HDTV)
Limited Basic HD
702 KTVU (FOX) HD
703 KNTV (NBC) HD
704 KRON - HD
705 KPIX (CBS) HD
706 KICU HD
707 KGO - (ABC) HD
709 KOED - HD
712 KBCW - HD
Digital Classic HD
720 FSN Bay Area HD
722 Versus/Golf HD (NEW)
724 ESPN HD
725 ESPN2 HD (NEW)
734 A&E HD (NEW)
735 TBS HD (NEW)
737 TNT HD (NEW)
738 USA HD (NEW)
739 Universal HD (NEW)
740 MOJO HD (NEW)
743 MHO (NEW)
746 HGTV HD (NEW)
750 Discovery HD
754 Discovery Theater HD (NEW)
757 National Geographic HD (NEW)
758 History HD (NEW)


Thank you for the info. Are the channels in the "Digital Classic" tier on Clear QAM ? Or do they require STB ?

Just a quick question. I have a DCT6200 that I've had for more than 5 years. Would I be able to take that to any Comcast office and trade it for one of the newer DCH HD boxes? Is model DCH3200 the replacement for the DCT6200?

They are not in the business of educating consumers, and neither is Comcast interested in educating you about how to get digital channels without using their equipment. Compared to these other sources of confusion, the lack of mention of QAM on a product webpage seems a fairly trivial mistake.

You and I disagree on acceptable behavior of consumer electronic companies. Your suggestion that an omission some information on a product brochure is trivial is only trivial because Panasonic in fact had the right stuff built into their device.

Had I purchased some other HD home equipment that came without the correct tuner, it wouldn't be trivial.

You apparently fail to understand that transparency in business would be taking the high road and ultimately better for consumers at large. Having consumer-oriented companies constantly attempting to hide important details is annoying to me.

How many of you are thrilled with your cellular provider and their policies?

You and I disagree on acceptable behavior of consumer electronic companies. Your suggestion that an omission some information on a product brochure is trivial is only trivial because Panasonic in fact had the right stuff built into their device.

Had I purchased some other HD home equipment that came without the correct tuner, it wouldn't be trivial.

You apparently fail to understand that transparency in business would be taking the high road and ultimately better for consumers at large. Having consumer-oriented companies constantly attempting to hide important details is annoying to me.

How many of you are thrilled with your cellular provider and their policies?

The issue we disagree on is whether the CE companies are intentionally obscuring information. I think that the Panasonic omission is not a general symptom, while you seem to think that the manufacturers as a group are trying to hide information from the customer.

Thank you for the info. Are the channels in the "Digital Classic" tier on Clear QAM ? Or do they require STB ?

I don't have them yet, but based on my experience with the current system, the limited basic channels (local channels) are clear, and the rest are encrypted. For anything outside the limited basic channels, you will need to subscribe to the appropriate Comcast tier and have a HD STB or a cable card based solution.

I don't have them yet, but based on my experience with the current system, the limited basic channels (local channels) are clear, and the rest are encrypted. For anything outside the limited basic channels, you will need to subscribe to the appropriate Comcast tier and have a HD STB or a cable card based solution.

That is correct. If those extra channels were unencrypted anyone would be able to receive them with a QAM tuner. I think I'd run to buy a QAM tuner if I could save the extra monthly cost. :)

Can anyone tell me whether the eSata connection for the DCH3416 has been activated by Comcast, or where I could check the Moto's config menu for this info? I'd like to be able to add an external hard-drive and increase my HD DVR storage.

Also I see that my DCH3416's USB and Ethernet are turned on - what can I do with them? What can be connected? How?

No, nothing, none.
You can't add any external storage with Comcast, either with eSATA, USB or Firewire.
USB and Ethernet are active for nothing.

They may be planning to do something with all those connections but right now they are useless.

An update on the status of the on going upgrades and a little reminiscing on the anniversary of my becoming a spokesperson to the forums with Comcast :eek:

This is posted as received so there is no question on what was or was not said ( My normal disclaimer :p )

-------------------------------------------
For the Forum....if you want to post it.

Mikef5:

I recall a "very busy" day a few years back when an "very upset" Milpitas customer, who could not get his hands on the Comcast DVR that had been released earlier that week, hit my desk. (From Susan N.)

Since then we've established, from my perspective, a healthy two-way communication that has benefited a large number of Comcast customers in the Bay Area.

Where am I heading with this.....one of the many topics we "discussed" (I listened and you let me have it is probably more accurate) was when would Milpitas get Comcast's advanced digital network that was being built in other South Bay communities.

So today I'm pleased to report that Comcast has completed the Milpitas upgrade and all of the nodes in the city have been launched. (With the exception of that one mobile home park that we've talked about in the past)

Certainly since that fateful day you have not lost any of that "bark and bite" but you always take the time to listen and learn so you can keep the Forum members up-to-date.

I sincerely thank you for spending your valuable time engaged in thoughtful, and sometimes vigorous, discussion and debate.

I'd be remiss if I did not provide an update on our overall South Bay progress.

In Sunnyvale we stand, as of this morning, at the 50% completed milestone. Several neighborhoods that received a "notice" are waiting for one of our competitors to put a new power supply unit in place, (our equipment is co-located in the right-of-way in this particular Sunnyvale neighborhood). Another Sunnyvale neighborhood that received the "notice" is waiting for a large underground bore to be completed so we can run our fiber in the new conduit. In this neighborhood we are waiting on a permit from the local water company.

In Los Gatos, 20.41 miles of fiber have been placed and we anticipate the first neighborhoods being launched in mid-February. In Saratoga, if we can find a good break in the weather, aerial crews will begin to hang the new fiber on the utility poles. Rain, and especially wind, can make working high in the air especially hazardous for the crews.

As always, thanks Mikef5 for your help.

-----------------------------------------------------

In case you were wondering the "very upset" Milpitas customer was me.... I've mellowed since then ..... NOT.... OK, maybe a little ;)

So that's the latest info on the upgrades and their status. I'm sure Comcast wants to get this done as fast as you do, maybe even faster but they have to work in a safe manner for their workers and within the limits that are placed on them by the local cities but it is getting done.

I'd like to thank Mr. J. for taking the time, all these years, to keep us of the Forum updated and in the loop, I for one appreciate it.

Laters,
Mikef5

Too little, too late. I'm getting Dish's HD package and U-Verse internet. If Comcast had completed my rebuild by the end of "07 like they originally said, they'd have gotten me but now there is too much competition. Comcast is now too expensive for what I want. However I'm not loyal to any provider so I could be a Comcast customer again in the future. How about an HD only package from Comcast.

Does anyone have any info on when Comcast plans to turn on new HD channels (eg. Sci-Fi HD) in Los Altos?

Too little, too late. I'm getting Dish's HD package and U-Verse internet. If Comcast had completed my rebuild by the end of "07 like they originally said, they'd have gotten me but now there is too much competition. Comcast is now too expensive for what I want. However I'm not loyal to any provider so I could be a Comcast customer again in the future. How about an HD only package from Comcast.
Bill,

Sorry to see you go but that's one of the good things about cable, you have no contract and can always come back if you wish. I'm sure you will be happy with Dish but they have their own set of problems but my brother likes them and has had no problems with them at all. U-verse on the other hand is a whole different story, they had just to many problems unless you're just getting their internet service ( AT&T DSL ), that's pretty stable. I have Sonic Net ( reseller for AT&T ) DSL and I've had very little trouble with it and Sonic Net's customer service is outstanding and I normally hate talking to CSR's but they are an exception. I probably will switch to Comcast Internet once they implement DOCSIS 3.0 and roll out the new modems, we'll just have to see if there's really that much of an improvement or not. Hope you find what you want from what ever provider you choose, if not, you can always come back ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Apparently the way OnDemand works it can't be encrypted

Can't is an overstatement. The company I work for does VOD for hotels, the movie studios would have a cow if we didn't encrypt. It's more like they haven't gotten around to it yet. Doubt it would require new STBs, just new software. They may need new equipment at the head-end.

KPIX news is now in HD, studio shots look good. Remotes with blue borders.

For those of you waiting for the Comcast/Tivo software guide to get here, here's a good link on what it looks like and what you can expect from it. It's from a guy in Boston ( where it's been released and he has about 46 pictures of it ) The link is from Engadget ...
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/28/comcast-tivo-in-pictures/

Laters,
Mikef5

KPIX news is now in HD, studio shots look good. Remotes with blue borders.

Were you watching it on Comcast 705 or OTA ??

Laters,
Mikef5

I have Dish with Comcast internet now so I'm fortunately not commited (commitment has ended while I waited for the rebuild) to Dish. I can jump back anytime to Comcast if they implement a better HD only package. However Comcast's DVR has a long way to go to compete with Dish's DVR. I think big changes are coming in this industry and we, the consumer, are going to highly benefit.