[...] How about an HD only package from Comcast. Its sort of already there : Limited Basic + Digital Classic is essentially HD-Only with a few extras, still < $30.

Its sort of already there : Limited Basic + Digital Classic is essentially HD-Only with a few extras, still < $30.

Does that include all non premium HD channels? Can you get a DVR with that?

Does that include all non premium HD channels? Can you get a DVR with that?
non-premium, yes. You can not get a DVR from Comcast, I forgot about that.

Caps from KPIX 5PM newscast,

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/keenanj/SP32-20080128-172305.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/keenanj/SP32-20080128-171841.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/keenanj/SP32-20080128-171926.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/keenanj/SP32-20080128-172121.jpg

This is sort of an interesting shot, she's standing in the pillarbox area...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/keenanj/SP32-20080128-172627.jpg

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/

Saw that. Didn't look at all the screenshots (40+ of them?) but honestly, doesn't it look like the same thing we have now, only with a bit prettier interface? I'm not sure a facelift would be enough to get me to pay the extra $3/mo. Then again, I don't do that much DVRing of regular TV series.

Saw that. Didn't look at all the screenshots (40+ of them?) but honestly, doesn't it look like the same thing we have now, only with a bit prettier interface? I'm not sure a facelift would be enough to get me to pay the extra $3/mo. Then again, I don't do that much DVRing of regular TV series.

Actually it looks a whole lot like a real Tivo interface does with some slight deferences in the way it is arranged and it's use of folders and it can do searches in the OnDemand section. But from what I've read the initial roll out has a lot of bugs that still need to be ironed out. I guess being on the Last Coast is an advantage this time ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Congrats on getting the upgrade, Mike. And of course, thanks again for being a good mediator/communicator between us Mr. J.

Can you get a DVR with that?

Not Comcast DVR (which requires the expensive expanded basic), but you can get a TiVo.

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.

Laters,
Mikef5

We've have the upgrade (94089) since late September. My TiVo still doesn't have any guide data for the new channels. Any news on guide data??

Thanks,
Jeff

We've have the upgrade (94089) since late September. My TiVo still doesn't have any guide data for the new channels. Any news on guide data??

Thanks,
JeffNo guide data on TiVo is a TiVo problem. Go here (http://customersupport.tivo.com/Lineupform.aspx) and report it.

Originally Posted by Mr. J through Mikef5

In Sunnyvale we stand, as of this morning, at the 50% completed milestone.

Laters,
Mikef5

We've had the upgrade (94089) since late September.

Thanks,
Jeff

By extrapolation, it will be another 4 months before the last node of Sunnyvale will be launched. :mad: The node I'm in will probably turn out to be the last one. I hope I'm wrong on both points.

All my channels are screwed up on my box, all my analog channels are good but my digital channels are either not on, or are digital versions of local channels (KRON, KTVU, etc,). Has anyone experienced this?

All my channels are screwed up on my box, all my analog channels are good but my digital channels are either not on, or are digital versions of local channels (KRON, KTVU, etc,). Has anyone experienced this?
I would imagine that they are doing upgrading/testing in your area. If I remember correctly Hayward is due to be upgraded. The same thing happened in my area prior to being upgraded.

Laters,
Mikef5

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.


I saw telecom work crews and vans all around the intersection of Washington and Mary in Sunnyvale last week, and nearly cried since I just quit Comcast. I figured it'd be poetic that they'd finally upgrade my neighborhood less than a week after I walked away. However, turns out they were AT&T contractors pulling up old copper lines. Now that I'm un-subscribed from Comcast, I'm hoping my DirecTV continues to pay off (but still hope for the rest of you that they upgrade quickly). Up until last week I still had not gotten any notification from Comcast that the upgrade was coming.

Has comcast decided to not bother trying to catch up to directv with respect to HD channel rollout? It's been almost 3 months since any HD channels have been added.

I thought the plan was to add new channels each month? A commitment period with satellite doesn't sound so bad if the wait from comcast for more HD is just as long...

Has comcast decided to not bother trying to catch up to directv with respect to HD channel rollout? It's been almost 3 months since any HD channels have been added.

I thought the plan was to add new channels each month? A commitment period with satellite doesn't sound so bad if the wait from comcast for more HD is just as long...

Comcast appears to be adding HD channels in other areas, but who knows what's happening here. I don't think we've gotten any useful information about new channels since before the last round of additions.

Interesting article from MSNBC about deceptive Comcast pricing, advertising, etc......
(nothing that most of us didn't already know....)

http://www.nbc11.com/msnbcnews/15165883/detail.html

Is anyone getting reception problems w/ the Warriors and Rockets game tonight?

if not, it will further fuel why i hate living in Hayward....

Interesting article from MSNBC about deceptive Comcast pricing, advertising, etc......
(nothing that most of us didn't already know....)

http://www.nbc11.com/msnbcnews/15165883/detail.html

It all boils down to one paragraph:

"And yet, despite skyrocketing prices and wide dissatisfaction, two-thirds of Americans subscribe to cable, clear evidence that real market forces are not at work in the world of cable television. There is occasional discomfort of competition from satellite television or new fiber-optic TV delivery services, but cable firms still enjoy sizable monopoly power in many places. And that's how they get away with so much. They know most of us would still crowd into Ed Parson's living room to watch if we had to."

If you there's no incentive to improve/speed up networks, give better CS, and lower prices, there's no reason to do it. Plain and simple.

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.
IMO this is very unlikely.

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.
To expand on that, grain usually increases the bandwidth needed to get acceptable video.

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.
I don't know why, but most if not all Panasonic products do not list QAM capability though most of them do support it if they support 8VSB/ATSC.

Other manufacturers tend to list QAM capability.

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.
I wouldn't say encryption for access has nothing to do with copy protection.

With a broadcast system setup the way it is today, if you want to implement "effective" copy protection, the content should be encrypted in the first place or the copy protection is easily bypassed.

This is sort of an interesting shot, she's standing in the pillarbox area...
As opposed to the regular blue screen? :)

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?
Bitrates for VC1, mpeg4, H.264, etc. are not directly comparable to bitrates for mpeg2. 6Mhz cable channel can carry around 38Mbps. I suppose it is up to the cable company to decide how to divy that up. In my experience, Comcast faithfully rebroadcasts the full HD channel content that is available over OTA.

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.
79 is the actual cable channel # that KTVU/KPIX is sent on. 2.1 and 5.1 are the PSIP virtual channel maps.

Their area may have lost the PSIP virtual channel maps. My area still has them for the channels you mention.

I'm guessing their problem is isolated to their head-end and you will need to get someone who can escalate in that direction to get it fixed (assuming Comcast is not already aware) I think if 3 people in the same area complain about the same problem it gets higher priority.

KGO/KQED is at 117 for me.

See http://www.silicondust.com/wiki/hdhomerun/channels for more possibilities.
Channel 1
Service Name: KPIX DT
TSID: 10217 (0x27e9)
Channel Number: 5.1
Carrier Frequency: 624000000
Modulation Mode: SCTE_mode_2
Source ID: 36

Channel 2
Service Name: KTVUHD
TSID: 10217 (0x27e9)
Channel Number: 2.1
Carrier Frequency: 624000000
Modulation Mode: SCTE_mode_2
Source ID: 38

Channel 1
Service Name: KGO-DT
TSID: 10242 (0x2802)
Channel Number: 7.1
Carrier Frequency: 624000000
Modulation Mode: SCTE_mode_2
Source ID: 37

I would imagine that they are doing upgrading/testing in your area. If I remember correctly Hayward is due to be upgraded. The same thing happened in my area prior to being upgraded.

Laters,
Mikef5

Thanks! We are finally upgraded!!!! I have all the channels the 750-850mhz areas have plus on demand. Man I was missing so much!

I'm hoping that the "tuner resolver" for the TivoHD will also be usable with OnDemand and not just for SDVIMO this is very unlikely.
I don't think it's going to happen either, if for no other reason than somebody has to figure out a way for the TiVo to be able to send its remote control signals through to whatever drives the OnDemand menu system. If the TiVo doesn't have the capability of sending its received remote control signals through the USB port, it sounds like there would have to be a separate infrared receiver (sort of an IR Blaster in reverse) to read the remote's commands, and even with that, you would probably run into problems when the TiVo tries to handle the remote commands meant for the OnDemand system.

-- Don

Bitrates for VC1, mpeg4, H.264, etc. are not directly comparable to bitrates for mpeg2. 6Mhz cable channel can carry around 38Mbps. I suppose it is up to the cable company to decide how to divy that up. In my experience, Comcast faithfully rebroadcasts the full HD channel content that is available over OTA.

Yea but if your watching via their DVR it's limiting you to 1350 lines via component. Not sure about the HDMI.

Thanks! We are finally upgraded!!!! I have all the channels the 750-850mhz areas have plus on demand. Man I was missing so much!

What part of Hayward you live in?

What part of Hayward you live in?

94542 Hills area.

Always on the lookout for Comcast trucks in my neighborhood... there were a ton of them around Mary/Washington in Sunnyvale, 94086 this morning. They were together with another set of sub-contractor's trucks as well. Looked like they were getting set up to run wires up the poles. Maybe the neighborhood is finally getting the upgrade.

Always on the lookout for Comcast trucks in my neighborhood... there were a ton of them around Mary/Washington in Sunnyvale, 94086 this morning. They were together with another set of sub-contractor's trucks as well. Looked like they were getting set up to run wires up the poles. Maybe the neighborhood is finally getting the upgrade.

I know I saw a cablecom truck at Charles and Washington as I was leaving for work yesterday, so they're certainly working on our 'hood. Here's hoping the switchover is soon.

Sunnyvale 94087 near Eagle and Inverness just went active on the upgrade today (Thursday 1/31). In a very quick check that I just did, all promised TV channels, FM radio channels, and OnDemand appear to be working. On-line Guide is updated. Some channels are not where they said they would be on the linecard sent in the mail a few months ago, but all promised channels appear to be there somewhere.

Now I'm off to put my other (non-STB) HDTV into programming mode to see what it can find unencrypted.

Sunnyvale 94087 near Eagle and Inverness just went active on the upgrade today (Thursday 1/31). In a very quick check that I just did, all promised TV channels, FM radio channels, and OnDemand appear to be working. On-line Guide is updated. Some channels are not where they said they would be on the linecard sent in the mail a few months ago, but all promised channels appear to be there somewhere.

Now I'm off to put my other (non-STB) HDTV into programming mode to see what it can find unencrypted.

Congratulations. I'm in 94087 and no activity of any type yet. I would like to see what channels I'll be able to pick up on my QAM TV's without CableCard or stb's.

Congratulations. I'm in 94087 and no activity of any type yet. I would like to see what channels I'll be able to pick up on my QAM TV's without CableCard or stb's.

clau,
I didn't check this morning before leaving work, but I didn't have any new channels last night. I think I may live not too far from you, so I'm relying on you to report when you start seeing new channels while I'm at work. I usually only check the forum during my lunch, but I'm hoping that if I see that you've posted you've been upgraded that, when I get home, I'll be upgraded too. :)

Just did a quick check of what my LG (non-STB) HTDV found via an auto-scan on our newly activated upgrade in Sunnyvale 94087 near Eagle and Inverness. Here is a quick non-exhaustive summary.

- I counted 8 HD channels in the clear: KTVU (2-1), KPIX (5-1), KGO (7-1), KQED (9-1), KNTV (11-1), CW/Channel 44 (92-2), and something on 122-1 and 131-8 (haven't had time to determine what those are yet -- maybe one of them is KRON?).

- A bunch of SD digital equivalents of analog channels from Expanded Basic.

- 30 Bay Area FM radio station channels on 95-10 to 95-39. Interestingly, I am no longer seeing the MusicChoice (commercial free music by genre) channels which were in the clear before.

More later as I get a chance to sort things out.

I realize these two subjects have been discussed a bit in the past. But, I don't really have time to search the answers down. Maybe some of you guys can just help me now.

1. What are the differences between the Tivo HD and Series 3?

2. What minimum Comcast package/programming is required to receive the national HD Channels? (NG-HD, UHD, etc.)

I am thinking of getting a Tivo HD-compatible tuner for OTA and national HD cable channels, and dropping my Digital Silver package. (I may drop TVJapan, as well, as I have a SlingBox set up to a DVR in Japan. )

I realize these two subjects have been discussed a bit in the past. But, I don't really have time to search the answers down. Maybe some of you guys can just help me now.

1. What are the differences between the Tivo HD and Series 3?


The fluorescent display on the front panel and the lit remote, and possibly default storage capacity (can't recall, as I bought my HD from WK with extra drive space).

[QUOTE=garypen;12992194]I realize these two subjects have been discussed a bit in the past. But, I don't really have time to search the answers down. Maybe some of you guys can just help me now.

1. What are the differences between the Tivo HD and Series 3?
Front panel is different, CPU is different(BCM7038+74111:BCM7401), internal HDD size is different (250:160GB). Both HDD can be extented to 2TB. And S3 needs 2 CableCards. I personaly prefer HD.
2. What minimum Comcast package/programming is required to receive the national HD Channels? (NG-HD, UHD, etc.)
With Tivo, I get it with limit basic+digital classic package=$13+$15=$28.
With Comcast Box, you need limit+digital classic package+HD box rental fee=13+15+7=$35

clau,
I didn't check this morning before leaving work, but I didn't have any new channels last night. I think I may live not too far from you, so I'm relying on you to report when you start seeing new channels while I'm at work. I usually only check the forum during my lunch, but I'm hoping that if I see that you've posted you've been upgraded that, when I get home, I'll be upgraded too. :)

Usually during the weekday I am away from home, so I am not much use if you need a mid-day upgrade status report :).

Thanks! We are finally upgraded!!!! I have all the channels the 750-850mhz areas have plus on demand. Man I was missing so much!

Congrats KStack, I'm glad the Hayward upgrades are finally kickin' in. Hopefully the Hayward/San Lo flat-lands won't be too far behind.

The fluorescent display on the front panel and the lit remote, and possibly default storage capacity (can't recall, as I bought my HD from WK with extra drive space).

Also, the TiVo HD can handle multistream cablecards, and the Series 3 can't.

1. What are the differences between the Tivo HD and Series 3?
Front panel is different, CPU is different(BCM7038+74111:BCM7401), internal HDD size is different (250:160GB). Both HDD can be extented to 2TB. And S3 needs 2 CableCards. I personaly prefer HD.Which model has which?

2. What minimum Comcast package/programming is required to receive the national HD Channels? (NG-HD, UHD, etc.)
With Tivo, I get it with limit basic+digital classic package=$13+$15=$28.
With Comcast Box, you need limit+digital classic package+HD box rental fee=13+15+7=$35

Currently, I have Digital Silver, which consists of:
Limited Basic
Expanded Basic
$56

Digital Classic
Digital Plus
HBO
$34

That's a total of $89. Obviously, I'd prefer to pay $28, if possible. But, will I really get all of the national non-premium HD channels, even though I will no longer be getting the SD versions of some of them by dropping Expanded Basic and Digital Plus? (Such as USA, A&E, ESPN, etc)

The HD can only use 1 specific external drive from Western Digital as extra storage(500GB), whereas the Series 3 can use just about any drive/enclosure(pretty sure that's still the case, I know my 1TB-Hitachi/MX-1 has been working flawlessly since Day 1).

Both are "Series 3" units. The S3 has 250GB drive, and the HD has 160GB drive. Even though the HD has slightly faster CPU, the S3 is about twice as fast as the HD if you want to transfer the programs to another TiVo (MRV) or to a PC (TiVo2Go). The S3 is a bit more responsive when you navigate through the menus. However, the S3 needs two CableCards (single or multi-stream), so you have to pay ~$2/month more for the second CableCard, and it's one more thing that Comcast can screw up in terms of authorization and billing.

However, the S3 needs two CableCards (single or multi-stream), so you have to pay ~$2/month more for the second CableCard, and it's one more thing that Comcast can screw up in terms of authorization and billing.

Which I have to do with my HD anyhow, as Comcast didn't give me a multistream CC... (also the reason I forgot the HD does MS cards and S3 doesn't).

garypen, TiVo may make up your mind for you,


TiVo Discontinues The Series3 TCD648250B
http://www.tivolovers.com/2008/01/31/tivo-discontinues-the-series3-tcd648250b/

Tivo is selling Series 3 Refurbs at an attractive price, which is why I asked in the first place. There is also a $200 rebate on S3. But, I don't know if it's valid for the refurbs. If so, it brings the price to parity with the HD. That's why I wanted to know the differences between the two.

BTW, how much does C* charge for the necessary cablecard(s) for the HD and S3?

[QUOTE=garypen;12992194]I realize these two subjects have been discussed a bit in the past. But, I don't really have time to search the answers down. Maybe some of you guys can just help me now.

2. What minimum Comcast package/programming is required to receive the national HD Channels? (NG-HD, UHD, etc.)
With Tivo, I get it with limit basic+digital classic package=$13+$15=$28.
With Comcast Box, you need limit+digital classic package+HD box rental fee=13+15+7=$35

The San Jose Comcast Service Center here said, started December 2007, for new subscriber to HD, those digital classic HD channels 720~758(A&E, TNT, History HD, etc.) are in 'Digital Starter' pack, which is the 'limit+Expanded Basic'.
Digital Classic for HD includes only one ch: Nat Geo HD 757.
So, to get all your HD channels, you will need:
limit+expanded+digital classic package+HD box = 13+43+15+7= 78
If Nat Geo HD is not needed:
limit+expanded+HD box = 13+43+7= 63

The Programming -> 'Channel Lineup' in www.comcast.com already reflect the above changes.
http://www.comcast.com/Customers/Clu/ChannelLineup.ashx

I noticed the HD channels listed that way in the channel guide at comcast.com.

You mention NEW subscribers. I have been an HD sub for 3 years. So, does that lineup include me?

I am existing HD subscriber without 'Expanded basic', it 'has' not affect mine yet.
I stopped by the local CSC, that new lineup is for new HD subscribers.

BTW, how much does C* charge for the necessary cablecard(s) for the HD and S3?

My CC rental for two cards is less than $2/mo. I don't recall exactly how much, as it's such an insubstantial part of my (constantly rising) cable bill.

Thanks everybody. I'm gonna give Comcast a call, and hope I get someone who has a clue.

If it turns out that I can indeed get all of the non-prem HD channels after downgrading to Limited Basic and Dig Classic, and only $2 for 2 CC's, I'm gonna order the Tivo HD from Vann's. Only $250, free shiping, no tax. (Plus, enter 3FREEHD when signing up for a year of service, and get the first 3 months free.)

I'll save about $60/mo, so it will pay for itself in about 4 months. But, only if I don't have to get Expanded Basic.

My CC rental for two cards is less than $2/mo. I don't recall exactly how much, as it's such an insubstantial part of my (constantly rising) cable bill.

Plus the additional outlet charge of about $7, unless you have no other CC or STB.

Plus the additional outlet charge of about $7, unless you have no other CC or STB.

Right, I have no other set top boxes in the house, the HD is the only place that gets cable, so I avoid the bogus outlet charge.

However, the CSR I just spoke with says there is a $7 HD charge. When I mentioned that I was pretty sure that was a HW charge, she said it was for programming.

OTOH, she did offer Preferred Plus, which is like what I have now but with the addition of Starz, for $59 for the next 6 months. I currently pay $89, so that's still $30/mo savings, $180 total.

I think I'll take her up on that for now, until I figure out if I'm gonna go with the Tivo. (Although, the last time I got them to do that, I got the "silver" for $39 for 6 months. I could dig that again.)

garypen, have you thought that Tivo has no 'ON DEMAND' ?

Yes. I know. I would miss it. But, quite frankly, I've got a lot of stuff on DVD/HDDVD, as well as a Netflix sub. And, she's got the SlingBox and TVJapan.

Doesn't the Tivo HD have some kind of streaming video capability, as well?

Tivo does have Amazon Unboxed which has select movies and TV shows. I don't think any are in HD though.

garypen, have you thought that Tivo has no 'ON DEMAND' ?

On demand is overrated. I have 6 TB of storage and 5 tuners - so I make my own "on demand". It's a lot more responsive than ondemand (push the pause button, wait 3 secs for it to stop, etc...), and not only can I skip 30 secs forward, it automatically skips commercials on playback. And shows don't expire either. I have something like 130 unique dora the explorer episodes, etc...

I think of it as "my demand"... :-)

Since I do not have 'Expanded Basic($43/Mo)' channel, I can use 'On Demand' to access some of those program for free.

Yea but if your watching via their DVR it's limiting you to 1350 lines via component. Not sure about the HDMI.
Personally I think it is more important they broadcast faithfully. Crappy DVR can be addressed through various means. Crappy broadcast limits all options.

The HD can only use 1 specific external drive from Western Digital as extra storage(500GB), whereas the Series 3 can use just about any drive/enclosure(pretty sure that's still the case, I know my 1TB-Hitachi/MX-1 has been working flawlessly since Day 1).
That is correct for the plug-and-play method of expansion which doesn't require opening the case.

If one has no problem opening up TiVo and connecting drives to a PC, both HD and S3 don't have drive restrictions for the external expansion drive.

I have a Philips HDTV and when I press the 'Info' button on my remote, it says that the signal is "analog", even when I'm on an HD channel. I'm not that tech savvy, but I was under the impression that with digital cable and HDTV, all of the respective HD channels would be digital. Does this have to with my connection to the set top box? (I'm using the component cables.) Or might this be a setting that I'm missing on my TV?

Thanks for your help.

Well component is an analog connection so it's not unreasonable for the TV to say that. Does the TV say anything else like "1080i" or "720p"?

If you have the Motorola STB you have to make sure the output is set to 1080i, check/set by hitting menu when the box is off and change value if necessary. Post model # of your TV if still having problems.

My friend's Visio plasma says "Analog HD" and "Digital HD" for the component and HDMI connections, respectively.

Sorry if this doesn't belong here, but has anyone gotten additional IP's from comcast? I called comcast to see if I could get another IP, but they said that I'd have to upgrade to comcast business to get one. I remember that it used to be an option for an extra 5 buxs before.

I just signed up for the Comcast Triple Play. They hooked me up on Thurs (the idiot didn't finish the phone install so the guy had to come back out here today, but I digress). When I signed up through Walmart, the guy said for $99 I would get Digital Basic and if I wanted Preferred, it would be $115. I check my channels and I am not getting the Basic channels. When I called, they are saying I am supposed to have Digital Starter. That isn't even on the Digital Lineup guide the guy had. So am I supposed to have Digital Basic or not?

After reading about everybody being able to watch HD content, I decided to take the plunge this week. I have a Pioneer Elite HD-ready TV (no tuner, just HDMI and component video inputs) and I purchased a Samsung DTB-H260F to pull the digital/HD signals off the cable (Comcast analog at the border of Unincorporated Los Altos 94024 & Cupertino 95014). The tuner finds plenty of channels, but several of them have severe pixelation and audio drops. For example, right now I'm trying to watch the NHL on NBC, on KNTV-HD which the STB tells me is 11-1, but the artifacts are too severe to really enjoy the game. KGO-HD (7-1), KGO-DT (7-2), KGO-DT (7-3), KQED-HD (9-1), and Encore (9-2) also exhibit this behavior.

In contrast, there is currently a Super Bowl preview on KTVUHD (2-1), an infomercial on KRON-HD (4-2), and golf on KPIX-HD (5-1), all of which have no apparent artifacts. So it looks like everything up to 5-1 is OK, but 7-1 thru 11-1 are not. The next available channel is KICU-HD 36-1 which also comes in fine.

Do I need a different Comcast subscription (i.e. a digital starter) to receive channels 7-1 thru 11-1 cleanly? Or are there potentially other issues (signal strength/quality or DTB-H260F issues)?

I'd appreciate any insight into this issue.

jellofan, you have signal strength/quality issues. Subscription levels don't affect the HD locals which are unencrypted (and for those that are encrypted you get zippo, not artifacts). You might try removing any splitters, replacing any old RG-59 cablewith RG-6, adding an amp. If nothing helps call Comcast.to have them come out for a look. Your box should have some sort of signal strength reading in its menus somewhere. Also keep in mind those channel #s you are talking about are virtual channel #s, not the real physical channel #s.

On a somewhat related note, on the Milpitas plant I've previously reported problems on the 99Mhz band, the ESPN2 & TNT channels. I was getting much lower signal strength than other channels, but previously I was able to get it up to a usable quality by turning up my amplifier. This worked great for the first few weeks, which was nice for the Australian Open tennis on ESPN2. However, this past week I've noticed deteriorating signal again until this weekend when I've lost both channels completely, on both my Tivo + my 6412. The other channels are all perfectly fine. Anyone else in Milpitas having problems w/ ESPN2/TNT?

jellofan, you have signal strength/quality issues. Subscription levels don't affect the HD locals which are unencrypted (and for those that are encrypted you get zippo, not artifacts). You might try removing any splitters, replacing any old RG-59 cablewith RG-6, adding an amp. If nothing helps call Comcast.to have them come out for a look. Your box should have some sort of signal strength reading in its menus somewhere. Also keep in mind those channel #s you are talking about are virtual channel #s, not the real physical channel #s.

On a somewhat related note, on the Milpitas plant I've previously reported problems on the 99Mhz band, the ESPN2 & TNT channels. I was getting much lower signal strength than other channels, but previously I was able to get it up to a usable quality by turning up my amplifier. This worked great for the first few weeks, which was nice for the Australian Open tennis on ESPN2. However, this past week I've noticed deteriorating signal again until this weekend when I've lost both channels completely, on both my Tivo + my 6412. The other channels are all perfectly fine. Anyone else in Milpitas having problems w/ ESPN2/TNT?

If you call Comcast techs to come out, it probably will cost you at least $50. You may be able to talk your way out of it, but it would be very aggravating.

When I signed up for Comcast internet service, I couldn't get the modem working. Called Comcast, and they gave me a 4 hour window when they would come. Of course no one showed up, and when I called them, they said that there was nothing they could do because it was a plant problem. I told them to come anyway because I wasted half a day already. So finally someone showed up at 6 pm, figured out there was something in the return path, made some adjustments in the cable box outside, and the modem started working fine.

It was clearly their problem, but Comcast still charged me $50. I had to make 5 calls to reverse that charge. It probably cost me more than $50 in lost income :).

does anyone in the bay get scifi-hd ??? cause i just got my comcast h2 box and seem to have alot of content..... i got HD On demand and the following... i was just wondering do they often add channles?? do they send notices??

02 KTVU-2 (FOX) HD
703 KNTV-HDTV
704 KRON-HD
705 KPIX-(CBS)
706 KICU (IND) HD
707 KGO-HDTV
709 KQED-HDTV
712 KBCW - HD
720 FSNBA (Check Listings For Times)
722 Versus/Golf HD
724 ESPN HD
725 ESPN2 - HD
730 NFL NETWORK -
734 A & E - HD
735 TBS - HD
737 TNT HD
738 USA - HD
739 Universal HD
740 MOJO - HD
743 MHD
746 HGTV - HD
750 Discovery - HD
754 DISCOVERY THEATER -
757 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC -
758 HISTORY - HD
770 HBO-HD

No SciFi-HD from Comcast in the bay area yet, and it's a shame. I just watched the last 2 weeks of "Stargate:Atlantis" the other day on SciFi-HD from DirecTV and the HD quality was stunning, I was actually surprised how detailed/clean and artifact-free the image was, it should be just as good on Comcast, whenever it comes to the bay area.

^^ thanks for the info... im a huge wrestling fan so i was disappointed that i did not get scif-hd and TNA is going HD but i dont get spike hd though..... id get direct tv but i live in east palo alto and when we had Direct tv we had horrible service it was super sesatinve and would always go out or get weak signals during storms

On a somewhat related note, on the Milpitas plant I've previously reported problems on the 99Mhz band, the ESPN2 & TNT channels. I was getting much lower signal strength than other channels, but previously I was able to get it up to a usable quality by turning up my amplifier. However, this past week I've noticed deteriorating signal again until this weekend when I've lost both channels completely, on both my Tivo + my 6412.

Ack, never mind, I feel stupid. I tracked down the problem to a slightly loose connector. Apparently tight enough to be fine with all the other channels but just loose enough to let in some FM interference to kill these channels?

Ack, never mind, I feel stupid. I tracked down the problem to a slightly loose connector. Apparently tight enough to be fine with all the other channels but just loose enough to let in some FM interference to kill these channels?

Or more likely, the loose connector acted like a high-pass filter. Only the higher frequency signals coupled through.

Did anyone else get a blue line running down the left side of the 4:3 screen on KTVUHD for some of the SD commercials during the Super Bowl?

-- Don

Yes.

Did anyone else get a blue line running down the left side of the 4:3 screen on KTVUHD for some of the SD commercials during the Super Bowl?

-- Don

Yes. I thought they reverted to SD for a short time, around halftime.

Did anyone else get a blue line running down the left side of the 4:3 screen on KTVUHD for some of the SD commercials during the Super Bowl?


Yeah, odd, wasn't it?

Did anyone else get a blue line running down the left side of the 4:3 screen on KTVUHD for some of the SD commercials during the Super Bowl?
-- Don

That blue line has been there off and on for at least a couple weeks, if not more. It looks like they have a problem with one of their servers.

The video from the Super Bowl sure looked good!

Larry
SF

I'm in Sunnyvale 94087 around the Sunnyvale-Saratoga Rd/Remington intersection. The only letter I've received from Comcast was in early October about the "coming upgrades" and that I would be seeing trucks and crews in the neighborhood of the next "few months."

Digging was done on my street in late November. Comcast crews were on my street for about a week in mid-December. Since then I've seen no activity, aside from a Comcast van on Sunday. Lots of AT&T presence around here in mid-December as well. In early January I did see a CableCom crew putting in some undeground cable near the Sunnyvale Community Center.

Hi...I'm asking this question because of a conversation I had with a Comcast rep from Maryland where my father gets basic cable, and where I intend to install an HD TV so he can watch his favorite shows, i.e., sports, in high-def.

The channel listing for his service include the OTA digital channels for the major networks, as they have to, according to my understanding. With basic cable, all you have is a cable going to the back of the TV, and I assumed that if it's an HD TV with an ATSC tuner, that it would then show HD, when that digital channel has an HD program.

The Comcast rep told me that, no, he would need an HD box, costing $6 a month to watch the OTA digital channels in HD. This makes no sense to me, since I thought the digital OTA channels via cable were just a feed of the broadcast signal.

So who's right? Is the Comcast "HD box" reguired to watch HD OTA programming in HD, or not?

Thanks - Tony

With basic cable, all you have is a cable going to the back of the TV, and I assumed that if it's an HD TV with an ATSC tuner, that it would then show HD, when that digital channel has an HD program.

The Comcast rep told me that, no, he would need an HD box, costing $6 a month to watch the OTA digital channels in HD. This makes no sense to me, since I thought the digital OTA channels via cable were just a feed of the broadcast signal.

So who's right? Is the Comcast "HD box" reguired to watch HD OTA programming in HD, or not?


Who's right? Neither. The TV must have a QAM tuner to decode the HD channels from cable. Cable does not use ATSC. If your TV has a QAM tuner (the data sheet for the TV may say QAM or it may just say "digital cable", but most new TVs have one) then it will get the HD channels that are not encrypted (which are the broadcast channels). Discovery, ESPN, etc are encrypted.

Hi - we use digital cable going to the comcast HD 2-tuner recorder for our main TV watching.

But from an earlier subscription to limited basic cable, we have a cable run going up to one of our bedrooms, and recently tried it to see whether it got basic cable. I talked with a comcast rep here in the SF area to ask whether this should work, and he said this should work, and that there wasn't any charge for using the 2nd cable run, but that it might have been disconnected when we discontinued the previous cable service.

So I went to the cable boxes on the side of my house, and opened up the one that's open to customer service, and found one cable connected into the main box, which is presumably what's supplying us with the digital cable service to our primary setup.

I also found TWO other cable that lead under the house, one of which is presumably the cable going to the bedroom in question. But there is no other connector available to screw that cable into. I guess the connector that previously came down into the customer-available area was pulled out.

I guess I can call comcast to make a service call to make the connection, though it seems a bit dumb.. Any other alternative? Should I try to get into the other part of the box to restore the connector?

Who's right? Neither. The TV must have a QAM tuner to decode the HD channels from cable. Cable does not use ATSC. If your TV has a QAM tuner (the data sheet for the TV may say QAM or it may just say "digital cable", but most new TVs have one) then it will get the HD channels that are not encrypted (which are the broadcast channels). Discovery, ESPN, etc are encrypted.

hmm...thanks. Yes, basically all these TVs that I'm considering for my father include a QAM tuner, so there shouldn't be a problem.

But just for clarification, are you talking about ANALOG cable? Because I've had an HD TV for years, along with digital OTA tuners, because 5 years ago Sony HD CRTs did not include a digital tuner. And at that time, I was given understand from AVS forum that, if I had WANTED to, I would have gotten limited basic cable - i.e., the Comcast thing that cost around $17/month - and I could have used the OTA digital-channel feed that was included (by gov't or industry fiat) for my digital TV watching. I.e., that the OTA digital-channel feed was simply the broadcast signal being supplied via Comcast instead of an antenna.

So I suspect that what you are referring to might be Comcast's digital service. Have I been wrong here all these years?

hmm...thanks. Yes, basically all these TVs include a QAM tuner, so there shouldn't be a problem.

But just for clarification, are you talking about ANALOG cable? Because I've had an HD TV for years, along with digital OTA tuners, because 5 years ago Sony HD CRTs did not include a digital tuner. And at that time, I was given understand from AVS forum that, if I had WANTED to, I would have gotten limited basic cable - i.e., the Comcast thing that cost around $17/month - and I could have used the OTA digital-channel feed that was included (by gov't or industry fiat) for my digital TV watching. I.e., that the OTA digital-channel feed was simply the broadcast signal being supplied via Comcast instead of an antenna.

So I suspect that what you are referring to might be Comcast's digital service. Have I been wrong here all these years?

HD is Digital and you need a QAM tuner to get it from Comcast Service...You need a ASTC Tuner if you get it Over the Air...For traditional Analog services you need an NSTC Tuner.

I think your confusion is just because Comcast provides "HD" Local Channels on it's basic service that it's Analog (which its not)

HD is Digital and you need a QAM tuner to get it from Comcast Service...You need a ASTC Tuner if you get it Over the Air...For traditional Analog services you need an NSTC Tuner.

I think your confusion is just because Comcast provides "HD" Local Channels on it's basic service that it's Analog (which its not)

I think, instead, that it's because I am still confused over what digital means when associated with cable. So - just out of curiosity - where would one have gotten a QAM tuner in 2003 to go with a TV that only had an NTSC tuner? That's when I put together my system, and wasn't it also late that year that Comcast SF started to include HD programming, including the OTA channels?

(I admit to a new confusion over the use of the words analog and digital in the cable context. Whereas I know what they mean for broadcast...)

So does basic cable supply ordinary broadcast channels (and indeed ordinary cable channels) in the same format that they (i.e., that the broadcast channels) come from an antenna? Which presumably they must since an NTSC tuner serves for both of these... Whereas you need different types of digital tuners for the digital broadcast channels that come from antenna and cable? Which would imply that they come in a different format...And furthermore, what you are saying means that the digital OTA channels are sent over standard and digital cable in the same format...

(I do notice that the manuals for my HDTV and original receiver only mention NTSC and ATSC/NTSC, respectively; while the LG and Sony receiver/recorders that I got in 2005 and 2006 also mention QAM, which didn't matter to me, since I've never used cable with these 2 units).

The cable that goes into your home carries a ton of different types of signals going back and forth on different frequency channels. There are analog channels, digital channels (some unencrypted, others encrypted), plus internet + digital phone service. All these signals are coming in no matter what you subscribe to (except they may filter out some of the analog range if you don't get "expanded"), you just need the right kind of equipment to tune it in, and for some of the services you need authorization from their end.

Comcast gets feeds from the local affiliates and uses QAM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAM) modulation to put it on whatever channel they weren't using before or freed up for the purpose. In the end it's the same data you get OTA but it's carried on the cable using a different modulation scheme; OTA uses something called "8-VSB (http://www.broadcast.net/~sbe1/8vsb/8vsb.htm)". Note that the HD channels are entirely separate channels from the analog; e.g. KGO transmits channel 7 analog OTA, channel 24 digital, while on Comcast in my area KGO-DT is put on channel 117. (Cable frequencies/channel #s vs. OTA frequencies/channel #s only correspond for the VHF stations). Furthermore for digital the STB/TV will usually display a virtual channel number (707 or 7-1) rather than the actual physical channel number. The locals are unencrypted so anything with a QAM tuner can tune to these channels and get the HD feed. But if you tune into an encrypted channel it won't be able to make sense of the data so can't display anything; for these you need their STB or a CableCard to decrypt.

The digital tuner makers these days make integrated 8VSB/QAM chips/boards for the TV manufacturers so most newish TVs can handle either. Some older TVs are 8VSB only, and some had separate tuners where you had to plug cable into one antenna input but OTA into a different one.

...Comcast gets feeds from the local affiliates and uses QAM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAM) modulation to put it on whatever channel they weren't using before or freed up for the purpose. In the end it's the same data you get OTA but it's carried on the cable using a different modulation scheme; OTA uses something called "8-VSB (http://www.broadcast.net/~sbe1/8vsb/8vsb.htm)".

Note that the HD channels are entirely separate channels from the analog; e.g. KGO transmits channel 7 analog OTA, channel 24 digital, while on Comcast in my area KGO-DT is put on channel 117. (Cable frequencies/channel #s vs. OTA frequencies/channel #s only correspond for the VHF stations). Furthermore for digital the STB/TV will usually display a virtual channel number (707 or 7-1) rather than the actual physical channel number....
.

I'm of course quite familiar with the second part of what you said above...but I'm still a bit puzzled about standard cable...as I mentioned, the same tuner (NTSC) works for the OTA analog channels as they are broadcast AND as they are provided via standard cable. So presumably what you said about QAM pertains to the OTHER channels that digital cable provides, except for the scrambled channels (for which you need a digital cable box).

I'm of course quite familiar with the second part of what you said above...but I'm still a bit puzzled about standard cable...as I mentioned, the same tuner (NTSC) works for the OTA analog channels as they are broadcast AND as they are provided via standard cable. So presumably what you said about QAM pertains to the OTHER channels that digital cable provides, except for the scrambled channels (for which you need a digital cable box).
The format of the analog signal is NTSC whether you use OTA or cable but the frequency spacing is different. For your analog TV in most cases, you still need to specify whether the TV should use OTA or cable frequency spacing.

For digital, not only is the frequency spacing different between OTA and cable, the modulation is also different, 8VSB vs QAM.

While it is possible to send OTA on cable using 8VSB modulation virtually no cable companies do this.

What they actually do is take the mpg transport stream for the OTA broadcasters and re-broadcast on the cable system using QAM modulation. Just because you see a channel # like 2.1 or 5.1 doesn't mean the signal is OTA/8VSB. 99% of the time it is QAM modulation with OTA-style PSIP virtual channel map information.

Your confusion stems from referring to everything as the "format". For digital transmissions, the raw data is the mpg transport stream. This will mostly be the same between OTA and cable (99% the same). However the "modulation" for OTA is 8VSB and for cable is QAM. These modulation schemes are not the same and are not compatible. However once you demodulate the channel, you are left with the mpg transport stream, which for the most part are interchangeable. If your device doesn't have a QAM tuner, it won't be able to demodulate the signal on cable to get access to the mpg transport stream.

jellofan, you have signal strength/quality issues. Subscription levels don't affect the HD locals which are unencrypted (and for those that are encrypted you get zippo, not artifacts). You might try removing any splitters, replacing any old RG-59 cablewith RG-6, adding an amp. If nothing helps call Comcast.to have them come out for a look. Your box should have some sort of signal strength reading in its menus somewhere. Also keep in mind those channel #s you are talking about are virtual channel #s, not the real physical channel #s.
Thanks for the response. Looks like I need to see if I have any loose cables since I only have a single splitter in the equation. BTW how can I tell what physical channels are being used?

I think, instead, that it's because I am still confused over what digital means when associated with cable. So - just out of curiosity - where would one have gotten a QAM tuner in 2003 to go with a TV that only had an NTSC tuner? That's when I put together my system, and wasn't it also late that year that Comcast SF started to include HD programming, including the OTA channels?Digital Cable = QAM (ESPN, Fox Sport Net, etc are usually encrypted. Local OTA channels that are carried by your cable company are usually unencrypted.)

Digital OTA = ATSC (Everything over-the-air is unencrypted. You will need a good antenna, unless you live relatively close to the broadcast tower.)

Unfortunately, most TV's with built-in QAM/ATSC tuners only have one input!!! (So, you can connect only cable or antenna. Pretty stupid.) The Tivo HD model has two inputs, one for OTA/ATSC and one for Cable/QAM.

Unfortunately, most TV's with built-in QAM/ATSC tuners only have one input!!! (So, you can connect only cable or antenna. Pretty stupid.)

Not that stupid. Especially now in this area with Comcast retransmitting all the locals in the clear. It was a bigger deal in earlier years when stations were missing like CW, Fox, UPN/WB before the CW. Now, who cares? I suppose it's a backup if the cable goes out for some reason, but I'd rather avoid putting up a giant OTA antenna since I don't already have one.

Don't think there's a ton of demand for both OTA + cable simultaneous usage going forward, especially after analog shutoff next year.

Are all of the analog stations simulcast in digital on Comcast? I'm in the non-upgraded pits of Santa Rosa currently.

Thanks,

Monty

Hi - we use digital cable going to the comcast HD 2-tuner recorder for our main TV watching.

But from an earlier subscription to limited basic cable, we have a cable run going up to one of our bedrooms, and recently tried it to see whether it got basic cable. I talked with a comcast rep here in the SF area to ask whether this should work, and he said this should work, and that there wasn't any charge for using the 2nd cable run, but that it might have been disconnected when we discontinued the previous cable service.

So I went to the cable boxes on the side of my house, and opened up the one that's open to customer service, and found one cable connected into the main box, which is presumably what's supplying us with the digital cable service to our primary setup.

I also found TWO other cable that lead under the house, one of which is presumably the cable going to the bedroom in question. But there is no other connector available to screw that cable into. I guess the connector that previously came down into the customer-available area was pulled out.

I guess I can call comcast to make a service call to make the connection, though it seems a bit dumb.. Any other alternative? Should I try to get into the other part of the box to restore the connector?

It seems odd that they would have physically disconnected something the last time you discontinued service. What do you mean by "the one that's open to customer service" or "customer available area"?? I'm confused. You should be able to do whatever you want with the cables. If you can, just reconnect it yourself and you'll have basic service. You can have Comcast come out to (although they might charge you $20-$30).

It seems odd that they would have physically disconnected something the last time you discontinued service. What do you mean by "the one that's open to customer service" or "customer available area"?? I'm confused. You should be able to do whatever you want with the cables. If you can, just reconnect it yourself and you'll have basic service. You can have Comcast come out to (although they might charge you $20-$30).

To explain, beginning about 4 years ago, when we for a period got cable, Comcast installed this large box on the outside of our house that has a "customer accessible" part (via just a screwdriver) and an, apparently, larger part that it says we aren't supposed to access PLUS a separate box (that MAY have to do with the fact that we more recently got digital cable) that we ALSO aren't supposed to have access to. The cable running from under the house go into the customer access part, and all that happens there is that they can be screwed into a connector from the NON-customer access portion. I'm not sure what kind of tool opens the latter...I haven't bothered to try to get into it. But what is clear is that, whereas there must have previously been at least TWO connectors available in the customer access part, there's now only one, and that's connected under the house to our Comcast HD recorder.

The Comcast rep told me that when we ended service previously they probably disconnected the cables, and apparently they also removed at least one (if not both) of the connectors to which the cables from the house HAD been connected. I don't know why they did this, because I imagine that to become a cable pirate, we'd have had to do significantly more than just reconnect the cable...

The box on the outside that you are referring to sounds like a telephone subscriber interface as opposed to a cable connection. I have never seen a cable connection as you describe, and I am in the business. Now, if you can determine which cable goes to the room that you want to add cable, simply buy a three way splitter at radio shack and bring the cable from the outside, whether it is underground or aerial to the in portion of the splitter and put the existing cable and the new one to the other side and you are connected. There is no piracy involved here as long as you are paying for cable service. One more thing, be sure to buy a cable splitter that is rated to 1000 mhz so that you can see the entire spectrum.

Has anyone received messages on their Tivo S3/HD lately about about adding KICUDT2 on channel 188, then moving it to 197, then adding KTVUDT on 188? I checked 188 and it's a Latin music channel, and 197 shows nothing (just says "Searching for signal...")

Are all of the analog stations simulcast in digital on Comcast? I'm in the non-upgraded pits of Santa Rosa currently.

Monty

None of the analog channels are simulcast in digital in Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa is limited to 550MHz and there is no bandwidth available for simulcasting. After Santa Rosa is upgraded (they are working on this) they will probably start simulcasting eventually.

Has anyone received messages on their Tivo S3/HD lately about about adding KICUDT2 on channel 188, then moving it to 197, then adding KTVUDT on 188? I checked 188 and it's a Latin music channel, and 197 shows nothing (just says "Searching for signal...")

Me too, but I do not care those channels.:D

I've scanned the thread, but I haven't seen anything posted...

Do any insiders know when the next round of HD channels are being added to Comcast in San Francisco, and what they may be?

Thanks!

Me too, but I do not care those channels.:D

I was just wondering if Comcast was planning on giving us access to both the analog and digital feeds of the network channels (right now you either get one or the other in simulcast areas). Don't know what the benefit would be to doing that...just curious.

they do give you access to both...just plug the cable into your TV and use the built in Tuner to get Analog :)

I doubt they will put a separate analog channel in the guide though and make it available to tune to it on the STB...Doesnt make sense from their side, and as a consumer I dont see any benefits (unless you want a fuzzier picture that takes up more space on the DVR)

Hello -- I'm a DTV newbie in Milpitas (not in the untouched 'trailer park'); I just bought a Samsung DTB-H260F. I subscribe to Comcast 'standard' (analog) cable and Comcast Internet. I have a couple issues:

1) After running an auto-scan, I get KTVU, KPIX, KGO and KQED (and other stuff), but I cannot find KNTV-HD, KRON-HD, KICU-HD, etc. They are not showing up under their PSIP channel numbers. According to the Silicon Dust channel info for 95035, KNTV-HD and KRON-HD are on 116.1 and 131.8 respectively. But my auto-scan doesn't show anything higher than 114. Directly entering 116.1 also does not work. Do I have a cable problem, or is the Silicon Dust info wrong?

2) KTVU, KPIX, KGO and KQED show up under their PSIP numbers. Several other channels (KBCW, for example) do not. Is this just a problem with certain broadcasters not sending PSIP info, or do I have a problem?

3) I don't get any program guide info. Is that "just the way it is"?

4) Is Comcast using 'standard', HRC, or IRC? I've tried scanning both 'standard' and HRC.

TIA.

Hello -- I'm a DTV newbie in Milpitas (not in the untouched 'trailer park'); I just bought a Samsung DTB-H260F. I subscribe to Comcast 'standard' (analog) cable and Comcast Internet. I have a couple issues:

1) After running an auto-scan, I get KTVU, KPIX, KGO and KQED (and other stuff), but I cannot find KNTV-HD, KRON-HD, KICU-HD, etc. They are not showing up under their PSIP channel numbers. According to the Silicon Dust channel info for 95035, KNTV-HD and KRON-HD are on 116.1 and 131.8 respectively. But my auto-scan doesn't show anything higher than 114. Directly entering 116.1 also does not work. Do I have a cable problem, or is the Silicon Dust info wrong?

2) KTVU, KPIX, KGO and KQED show up under their PSIP numbers. Several other channels (KBCW, for example) do not. Is this just a problem with certain broadcasters not sending PSIP info, or do I have a problem?

3) I don't get any program guide info. Is that "just the way it is"?

4) Is Comcast using 'standard', HRC, or IRC? I've tried scanning both 'standard' and HRC.

TIA.

Instead of entering 116.1, try entering 116 and hit OK. Then go to the channel list to see if the channel has been added. It would probably appear as 11-1 (or 33-1 in my non-upgraded area). If this works, do the similar thing for the other missing QAM channels.

1) After running an auto-scan, I get KTVU, KPIX, KGO and KQED (and other stuff), but I cannot find KNTV-HD, KRON-HD, KICU-HD, etc. They are not showing up under their PSIP channel numbers. According to the Silicon Dust channel info for 95035, KNTV-HD and KRON-HD are on 116.1 and 131.8 respectively. But my auto-scan doesn't show anything higher than 114. Directly entering 116.1 also does not work. Do I have a cable problem, or is the Silicon Dust info wrong?

2) KTVU, KPIX, KGO and KQED show up under their PSIP numbers. Several other channels (KBCW, for example) do not. Is this just a problem with certain broadcasters not sending PSIP info, or do I have a problem?

3) I don't get any program guide info. Is that "just the way it is"?

4) Is Comcast using 'standard', HRC, or IRC? I've tried scanning both 'standard' and HRC.

TIA.To add to what CLau said:

2) Comcast doesn't pass along the PSIP info for some channels (some of the time). Go figure.

3) Yes, the OTA EPG info that's in the broadcast data is not passed along by Comcast on any channel. Go figure.

4) "standard".

Thanks for the prompt replies.

When I try 116, 11.1, or 131, I get a blue box that says 'weak or scrambled signal', which is Samsung's standard display for any channel on which it can't find a signal. FWIW, I have an amplifier on the cable, and the Samsung's 'signal strength' meter shows 10 bars which is max strength.

It seems that your Samsung is getting confused by the fact that there's an encrypted subchannel (ESPN, I think) on 116 along with KNTV. Check with Samsung for a firmware update to fix that.

I was just wondering if Comcast was planning on giving us access to both the analog and digital feeds of the network channels (right now you either get one or the other in simulcast areas). Don't know what the benefit would be to doing that...just curious.
I checked the OTA feed the other day and KTVU was sending a SD color bar test signal in addition to the HD feed. KTVU might be preparing to lower the bitrate on the HD feed so they can add an SD feed. I doubt Comcast was making (channel numbering) space to number the ADS channels so they would be separate from the analog channel numbering.

I checked the OTA feed the other day and KTVU was sending a SD color bar test signal in addition to the HD feed. KTVU might be preparing to lower the bitrate on the HD feed so they can add an SD feed. I doubt Comcast was making (channel numbering) space to number the ADS channels so they would be separate from the analog channel numbering.

Yeah, I didn't think so either. As davisdog said, there's really no benefit to doing so. Great...another sub channel that no one's going to watch but will take away bandwidth from the HD channel...

Yeah, I didn't think so either. As davisdog said, there's really no benefit to doing so. Great...another sub channel that no one's going to watch but will take away bandwidth from the HD channel...

The new KTVU sub channel is 188 and 622 on Comcast and 2-2 OTA and is called LATV, a Latin/English channel, sort of a Latin MTV. I watched it for a while last night and that will be the last time I watch it , a waste of bandwidth IMHO... :rolleyes:

Laters,
Mikef5

The new KTVU sub channel is 188 and 622 on Comcast and 2-2 OTA and is called LATV, a Latin/English channel, sort of a Latin MTV. I watched it for a while last night and that will be the last time I watch it , a waste of bandwidth IMHO... :rolleyes:

Laters,
Mikef5

Well, as far as FOX Network programming(anything that isn't produced/aired locally) nothing will change. There will be no reduction in quality because of that new sub-channel. All FOX Network programming is handled by their splicer system at a fixed rate meaning what the station gets from the net goes out to the providers, Comcast/DBS/OTA.

I'm sort of surprised they haven't added a SC sooner given it has no effect on the network programming.

Yeah, I didn't think so either. As davisdog said, there's really no benefit to doing so. Great...another sub channel that no one's going to watch but will take away bandwidth from the HD channel...

See my reply to Mikef5 above. No worries on the net-fed programming.

Now, if it was any of the other stations in the area, then it would be of concern regarding bandwidth/PQ issues, but not KTVU.

Well, cable was out this morning, and as I was leaving I saw a truck connecting the buried line up to the neighborhood's cable lines up on the poles (this was at washington and charles in 94086). Question for those who've been through this: How long was the time between them stringing up the lines and that switchover to the new, upgraded, channel list?

Well, as far as FOX Network programming(anything that isn't produced/aired locally) nothing will change. There will be no reduction in quality because of that new sub-channel. All FOX Network programming is handled by their splicer system at a fixed rate meaning what the station gets from the net goes out to the providers, Comcast/DBS/OTA.

I'm sort of surprised they haven't added a SC sooner given it has no effect on the network programming.
The KTVU-HD stream is around 10.5Mbps right now and the KTVU-SD stream is around 2.2Mbps.

KPIX-HD is around 13.75Mbps and Null packet filler stream is around 11.1Mbps.

Looks like another reason we wouldn't see reduced bitrates is because we aren't even seeing existing bitrates used up :( Even with KTVU-HD+KTVU-SD they are only using around 12.7Mbps and they have around 19Mbps for OTA.

3) Yes, the OTA EPG info that's in the broadcast data is not passed along by Comcast on any channel. Go figure.
My area gets between 4 - 10 hrs of OTA-style EPG guide data on the cable broadcast according to TSReader's EPG guide view. Don't know why, but for some channels it is the same as OTA. For others, it is fewer hours than the OTA EPG.

The KTVU-HD stream is around 10.5Mbps right now and the KTVU-SD stream is around 2.2Mbps.

KPIX-HD is around 13.75Mbps and Null packet filler stream is around 11.1Mbps.

Looks like another reason we wouldn't see reduced bitrates is because we aren't even seeing existing bitrates used up :( Even with KTVU-HD+KTVU-SD they are only using around 12.7Mbps and they have around 19Mbps for OTA.

I would check during primetime, something like Prison Break or Terminator, and see if it goes up. I think 15Mbps or so is the cap on the feed from the network. It's my understanding that the local station can't do anything to alter that rate from the network. So if something like Prison Break, or football, tops out at 10.5Mbps then it's the network and not KTVU that's throttling the bitrate.

Sometime between 10pm last night (Wed) and this morning at 4am I was upgraded! (in the area southeast of Fremont/Mary off The Dalles) No STB, just a QAM tuner, had to re-scan all digital channels. A quick look shows all the regulars, NBC now shows 11.1 (was 33.1), plus I saw KBCW and KICU were added and a lot of others. Many dark channels that are obviously encrypted. Didn't finish looking at all of them, but the scan was seeing stuff well up to (physical cable) channel 120. Also getting FM broadcast stations on digital subchannels in the clear.

All analogs still there, but rearranged, and some new ones (have Extended Basic) - seems to match the latest lineup I got in the mail.

Jim in 94087

Has anyone received messages on their Tivo S3/HD lately about about adding KICUDT2 on channel 188, then moving it to 197, then adding KTVUDT on 188? I checked 188 and it's a Latin music channel, and 197 shows nothing (just says "Searching for signal...")

Comcast recently just added these channels:

188 - KTVU-DT LAT (LATV)
197 - KICU-DT2 (I believe is 36.2 OTA Korean channel)
622 - KTVU-DT LAT (LATV)

You can see this in the Comcast channel lineup on their website.


KTVU recently signed to bring LATV (http://www.latv.com):

http://www.foxbusiness.com/article/latv-partners-ktvutv-landing-6th-largest-dma-affiliate-total-jumps-27_467581_1.html

Unfortunately right now, the channels guides on Tivo, zap2it, tvplanner, are all thinking 188 and 622 is KTVU-DT. I sent in a request this morning to TiVo support to correct this. Lets see if they do. However, I am able to recieve the new channels just fine this morning.

If you didn't notice either, ch 130 was added as well, Fox Business.

Well, as far as FOX Network programming(anything that isn't produced/aired locally) nothing will change. There will be no reduction in quality because of that new sub-channel. All FOX Network programming is handled by their splicer system at a fixed rate meaning what the station gets from the net goes out to the providers, Comcast/DBS/OTA.

I'm sort of surprised they haven't added a SC sooner given it has no effect on the network programming.
Jim,

If you remember a while back they did have a sub channel on 2-2 but did away with it and where just running the main channel. When they would have scheduling problems ( like the Giants playing and House on at the same time ) they would move the scheduled program to the sub channel and show the game on the main channel. After they dropped the sub channel they used KICU to show programs that had those type of scheduling problems.

There's nothing wrong with the sub channeling programing on KTVU, it's just not my cup of tea, that was my point. You know me, if it's not HD or sports I'm just not interested :p;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Here in Sunnyvale (upgraded area) I can no longer receive the English Audio feed for Gol Tv. It's Spanish all the time irrespective of whatever audio option( Channel Default, English, Spanish ..) I choose on my cable box. What I can recall, earlier it used to switch based on the selection. I can still see that on other channels (i.e. HBO) but not on Gol Tv anymore. Did anyone see the same or similar problem?

Here in Sunnyvale (upgraded area) I can no longer receive the English Audio feed for Gol Tv. It's Spanish all the time irrespective of whatever audio option( Channel Default, English, Spanish ..) I choose on my cable box. What I can recall, earlier it used to switch based on the selection. I can still see that on other channels (i.e. HBO) but not on Gol Tv anymore. Did anyone see the same or similar problem?
Perhaps Gol changed it's SAP feed. I don't think Comcast any control of those feeds.

Sometime between 10pm last night (Wed) and this morning at 4am I was upgraded! (in the area southeast of Fremont/Mary off The Dalles) No STB, just a QAM tuner, had to re-scan all digital channels. A quick look shows all the regulars, NBC now shows 11.1 (was 33.1), plus I saw KBCW and KICU were added and a lot of others. Many dark channels that are obviously encrypted. Didn't finish looking at all of them, but the scan was seeing stuff well up to (physical cable) channel 120. Also getting FM broadcast stations on digital subchannels in the clear.

All analogs still there, but rearranged, and some new ones (have Extended Basic) - seems to match the latest lineup I got in the mail.

Jim in 94087

Update: Digital cable channels pretty much match silicondust.com. Highlights for QAM users:

PSIP channels for KTVU 2.1, 2.2 - KCBS 5.1 - KGO 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 - KQED 9.1, 9.2 (HD and Encore SD) - KNTV 11.1 (no longer 33.1)

Other non-PSIP (your subchannels may vary):
84.8 Comcast Sports Net
91.1 KQED V-me (Spanish)
91.2 KQED World
91.8 KQED Kids
92.1 KBCW-44 *HD*
95.1-95.30 FM Broadcast stations
97.5 TV Guide channel (no longer on Analog 11)
116.2 KNTV Weather Plus (should be 11.2?)
118.50 CSPAN 3
119.12 CSPAN 2
122.1 KICU-36 *HD*
126.1 Color Bars
131.1 KRON-4 *HD*

Plus a host of duplicates of analogs in various places.
The old Music Choice channels which were in the clear are no longer :(

Jim

I would check during primetime, something like Prison Break or Terminator, and see if it goes up. I think 15Mbps or so is the cap on the feed from the network. It's my understanding that the local station can't do anything to alter that rate from the network. So if something like Prison Break, or football, tops out at 10.5Mbps then it's the network and not KTVU that's throttling the bitrate.
Looks better. CBS still pushes it more than FOX.
CBS/KPIX DT - 17.6Mbps CSI
FOX/KTVUHD - 15.1Mbps Don't forget the Lyrics
FOX/KTVU-SD - 2.2Mbps

Here in Sunnyvale (upgraded area) I can no longer receive the English Audio feed for Gol Tv. It's Spanish all the time irrespective of whatever audio option( Channel Default, English, Spanish ..) I choose on my cable box. What I can recall, earlier it used to switch based on the selection. I can still see that on other channels (i.e. HBO) but not on Gol Tv anymore. Did anyone see the same or similar problem?

I'm in Berkeley, and we haven't gotten the English audio for a few years now. OK by me, since I speak Spanish ... I miss the Hudsonisms, but otherwise I'm fine. But it's been awhile since I had the choice. The On Demand GOL highlights are often (always?) in English, though, if you need a Hudson fix.

Looks better. CBS still pushes it more than FOX.
CBS/KPIX DT - 17.6Mbps CSI
FOX/KTVUHD - 15.1Mbps Don't forget the Lyrics
FOX/KTVU-SD - 2.2Mbps

I figured it would, and if I'm not mistaken, that might even be a constant bitrate feed from the network.

Comcast just changed the upstream modulation from QPSK to 16 QAM for me and that fixed a lot of problems with the internet :) Now with the more bandwidth its stable and fast even druing peak hours. This is for Sunnyvale, Rebuilt Area.

Received the upgrade notice in the mail yesterday saying Los Gatos upgrades will happen during the weeks of March 7th through April 7th.

New Channels include:

5 new analog channels
3 new limited basic digital channels
3 new digital starter channels
28 new digital classic channels
15 new digital preferred channels
10 new sports entertainment channels
38 new international channels
16 new premium channels
18 new HD channels
new pay-per-view and digital FM services.

Let's hope it all goes well..

I saw Cablecom out working on Quito (which borders LosGatos/Saratoga) yesterday.

Looks better. CBS still pushes it more than FOX.
CBS/KPIX DT - 17.6Mbps CSI
FOX/KTVUHD - 15.1Mbps Don't forget the Lyrics
FOX/KTVU-SD - 2.2Mbps

Makes sense, Fox is 720p, CBS is 1080i.

720p = 55.3 MBps uncompressed

1080i = 62.2 MBps uncompressed

(480i = 10.4 MBps)

Well, after cable being out yesterday morning, and seeing them stringing new lines up the poles, when I got home last night all my analog channels looked like complete crap. I assume this means we're on the new lines with the old channel list (since the new channels aren't there yet), yeah?

Makes sense, Fox is 720p, CBS is 1080i.

720p = 55.3 MBps uncompressed

1080i = 62.2 MBps uncompressed

(480i = 10.4 MBps)
Compressed bitrate can be adjusted independent of raw pixel rate so I wouldn't necessarily say it makes sense on those grounds. There are poor quality lower bitrate shows on both 720p and 1080i as well as better quality higher bitrate shows. A good quality 720p show can have higher bitrate than a poor quality 1080i show. On the other hand, until you reach transparency, compressed bitrate is directly (as in one goes up, the other goes up) related to picture quality for a particular encoding.

For example, KQED, which is also 1080i was transmitting around 13.9Mbps which is less than Fox even though the raw pixel rate is higher for KQED. There are also cases where the content makes a difference. For example it takes much lower bitrate to encode a 1080i whitescreen than an action film at 720p, again independent of raw pixel rate.

I know, but it makes sense if you start with a higher bit-rate that you'd end up with a higher bit-rate.

I know, but it makes sense if you start with a higher bit-rate that you'd end up with a higher bit-rate.
That's why I pointed out KQED, higher raw pixel rate, lower compressed rate.

In the old days when they were pretty much the only HD eye candy they used to be much higher, but then they got on the multi-cast wagon.

Keenan is saying FOX is limiting everything to 15Mbps so we will not see higher bitrate from network sourced material from them and since that leaves plenty of headroom for an SD channel, adding one will not have any effect on PQ.

how come there's no fios in the bay area?

verizon is the telephone provider in los gatos where i live and i haven't heard a pip about fios from them.

my sister lives in northern va. and has fios and 2 hd tvs. she says it better than cable and way better than d* or e*.

i want my fios!

720p = 55.3 MBps uncompressed

1080i = 62.2 MBps uncompressed

(480i = 10.4 MBps)
Try multiplying that by a factor of 12 or so. No one uses 1 bit per pixel video, that would be true "black & white" only, not even gray :)

But anyway 15 MBps is reasonable for 720p IMO. Reserve your hatred for stretcho-vision channels & 10 Mbps 1080i IMO.

Try multiplying that by a factor of 12 or so. No one uses 1 bit per pixel video, that would be true "black & white" only, not even gray :)

But anyway 15 MBps is reasonable for 720p IMO.
I just converted his number into a pixel rate, but since you bring it up, factor of 3 since he specified MBytes/sec.

Personally IMO if I can see macroblocking on motion or transition scenes and there is bandwidth to spare, they should push the bitrate higher. Therefore reasonable bitrate to me depends on the source material rather than a fixed #. Of course if your bitrate is good enough for the most challenging material it'll be good enough for the easier stuff like evening news.

Received the upgrade notice in the mail yesterday saying Los Gatos upgrades will happen during the weeks of March 7th through April 7th.

New Channels include:

5 new analog channels
3 new limited basic digital channels
3 new digital starter channels
28 new digital classic channels
15 new digital preferred channels
10 new sports entertainment channels
38 new international channels
16 new premium channels
18 new HD channels
new pay-per-view and digital FM services.

Let's hope it all goes well..

no word in this part o town

Oops times 3, yeah. I wasn't sure if I got that right.. :cool:

Received the upgrade notice in the mail yesterday saying Los Gatos upgrades will happen during the weeks of March 7th through April 7th.

I got it, too. At long last...

Does anyone know if we will be able to upgrade our STBs once the new cable is online? My friends who live in the higer BW areas seem to have newer, sleeker boxes.

Suddenly, language support for GolTV works perfectly. I set the cable box language default to English and it's in English! I was never able to make this work until today. (It just popped up in English and I tested it to be sure that GolTV wasn't just sending out English on the Spanish channel. Nope, the cable box can actually select which language to play, even on recorded material.) Wonderful!

Anyone know what changed?

I'll try to keep this brief since it's way off topic, however some people have brought up the fact that they're getting slow Internet speeds with Comcast HSI. I've been battling this since I moved to my new house 3 months ago. For some reason, they gave me the ARRIS cable modem with VoIP capability (I don't have digital phone with Comcast). With this modem I was getting very slow speeds (400-700kbps) hitting various servers throughout the US (using the broadband.net speed test). The only time I'd get decent speeds is when going to local servers in the Bay Area. After numerous power cycles, a visit by a Comcast tech, and two modem swaps, I finally made them give me an old Moto Surfboard modem. Whala!! Speeds are averaging around 6-9mbps regardless of the server I'm hitting.

I've read some various posts online about this modem possibly being "capped", however I'm thinking there's something wrong with the routing tables in the firmware that gets pushed down (that could explain why I could fast speeds to certain servers but not others). I did a bunch of other tests before I swapped that support this (you can PM offline if you're interested). I just thought I'd bring it to people's attention if you're having speed issues.

I've read some various posts online about this modem possibly being "capped", however I'm thinking there's something wrong with the routing tables in the firmware that gets pushed down (that could explain why I could fast speeds to certain servers but not others). I did a bunch of other tests before I swapped that support this (you can PM offline if you're interested). I just thought I'd bring it to people's attention if you're having speed issues.

There's a bad config somewhere. My Arris 402 has been a consistent performer for a year and a half. I've got standard "silver" HSI service

http://www.speedtest.net/result/232760878.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

http://www.speedtest.net/result/232762227.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

http://www.speedtest.net/result/232762863.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

I received a little love note from comcast yesterday saying that my upgrade timeframe (in 94086) has now been bumped from 1/17-2/18 to 2/21-3/21.

A perfect example of how there *really* needs to be competition in this space... any company with half an eye to not losing a customer knows that they need to be careful to manage expectations. You don't send a notice to customers saying "Congratulations, we're doing this awesome thing for you in this timeframe" and then not deliver it.

Given the kind of rate increases I've had in the last year or two, I figure I'm already paying for the upgrade...

Well if it makes you feel any better, we are all paying for your upgrades ;)

As far as HSI speeds, the older Motorola (5100?) doesn't work well with ex-ATTBI areas (which is all of the bay area I think, at least ones that were upgraded before Comcast) but I don't know about the newer ones. When I first moved to Petaluma in 2004 they gave me one and it never worked right (slow speeds, especially upload which would often not pass 50k) so I purchased my own Linksys modem.

Anyway, with Speedboost you should be hitting 20Mb+ on downloads and 1.5Mb on uploads, under the right conditions.

I received a little love note from comcast yesterday saying that my upgrade timeframe (in 94086) has now been bumped from 1/17-2/18 to 2/21-3/21.

A perfect example of how there *really* needs to be competition in this space... any company with half an eye to not losing a customer knows that they need to be careful to manage expectations. You don't send a notice to customers saying "Congratulations, we're doing this awesome thing for you in this timeframe" and then not deliver it.

Given the kind of rate increases I've had in the last year or two, I figure I'm already paying for the upgrade...

That's not good. I'm in 94087, and was expecting a December 15 upgrade completion date. So now it may be late March. A 3 month slip is really serious, given that the December date was announced via the postcard in November.

how come there's no fios in the bay area?

verizon is the telephone provider in los gatos where i live and i haven't heard a pip about fios from them.

my sister lives in northern va. and has fios and 2 hd tvs. she says it better than cable and way better than d* or e*.

i want my fios!

Do a search in this thread for FIOS. You'll see my posts (Rants) about it. We'll never have FIOS here (even where Verizon is the local telco in Los Gatos), and may not see widespread rollout of FTTP (Fiber to the Premises) in our lifetime.

But hey, maybe one hundred years from now, if you are lucky to be alive by then, we'll get to enjoy these kinds of services.

Until then, all we have is cable, dsl, and FTTN (fiber to the node) u-verse. :mad:

I'm in South san Jose, 95123, and all of my channels are out. I get the "This channel should be available shortly" message on all channels. On TV's without a cable box things are working though. Anyone else having this problem? I'm about to give Comcast a call.

Update: I just called and they are aware of the outage in my area and are working on it.

Well if it makes you feel any better, we are all paying for your upgrades ;)

And, as I've probably mentioned before, those of us in areas with 550mHz have been paying more for less for many years now, while those in 750/860mHz areas have benefitted! ;0)

Anyone else notice/feel that PQ for digital channels has gone to total crap in the last few weeks? When my area was upgraded (Sunnyvale 94089, 11/07), they switched me over to ADS (I have a CableCARD). The basic+expanded channels looked slightly different (i.e. very minor compression artifacts), so I really didn't care. But it seems that as of a few weeks ago, the bitrates have dropped dramatically.

On the basic+expanded channels, I'm now seeing a ton of compression artifacts, and on the "traditional" digital tier (I only have Digital Classic), it basically feels like I'm watching a YouTube video most of the time. Seriously -- when there are MPEG artifacts constantly surrounding the (non-moving!) network insignias at the bottom of the screen... that's taking it a little too far. Thankfully, HD still looks great (hell, even better now that everything else looks like crap).

I'm completely at a loss (no pun intended) to understand this scenario.

Upgrade from 550? Check.
Lots more bandwidth for new channels? Check.
Available bandwidth for existing channels? Check.
Squeeze down bitrates until everything (except HD) looks like YouTube? Check.....

Even before the upgrades, when I sent my Moto 6200 back in exchange for a CableCARD, I noticed a vast improvement in digital PQ with the card. If the digital decoder in the current Moto boxen is as bad as the 6200, I couldn't possibly imagine how crappy digital-tier channels would look with a box at these bitrates.

Unfortunately, I don't have any equipment to empirically confirm my (clearly subjective) observations, so... what do you guys think?

Don't really notice any difference in my area. Digital classic SD channels have always looked like crap (to me). They are usually around 528x480i at around 1.8-2.2Mbps. The ADS channels have always been noticably better at 704x480i at 2.2-3.6Mbps. I just checked at that is still the case so I think you are seeing a localized issue.

There's a bad config somewhere. My Arris 402 has been a consistent performer for a year and a half. I've got standard "silver" HSI service

http://www.speedtest.net/result/232760878.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

So, what router do you use , if you do ? Popular Linksys routers are all limited to 10 Mbps for WAN side. In order to get the faster speed, I need to directly connect to the Cable Modem. Anyone knows the router that can go higher on WAN side ?

Don't really notice any difference in my area. Digital classic SD channels have always looked like crap (to me). They are usually around 528x480i at around 1.8-2.2Mbps. The ADS channels have always been noticably better at 704x480i at 2.2-3.6Mbps. I just checked at that is still the case so I think you are seeing a localized issue.

The ADS channels are certainly better than the "classic" digital SD channels, but I've observed a significant degradation in PQ overall (both tiers). You might be right about it being a localized issue -- I'm hoping it's related to other upgrades currently underway in the Sunnyvale area (they're all the same headend, aren't they? maybe not...), but I'm not holding my breath.

So, what router do you use , if you do ? Popular Linksys routers are all limited to 10 Mbps for WAN side. In order to get the faster speed, I need to directly connect to the Cable Modem. Anyone knows the router that can go higher on WAN side ?

Stock Linksys WRT54G v6.

This might interest people that have Comcast's Internet service and have the need for speed ;) .
I found it while reading the San Jose Mercury News today .......

http://www.mercurynews.com/vindu/ci_8228560

Laters,
Mikef5

This might interest people that have Comcast's Internet service and have the need for speed ;) .
I found it while reading the San Jose Mercury News today .......

http://www.mercurynews.com/vindu/ci_8228560

Laters,
Mikef5

That's really good. And if anyone is interested in gaming, this service includes subscription to IGN, FilePlanet and some other places like that.

I'm seriously thinking on upgrading now.

That's really good. And if anyone is interested in gaming, this service includes subscription to IGN, FilePlanet and some other places like that.

I'm seriously thinking on upgrading now.

I'm waiting for DOCSIS 3.0 to be implemented and then I'll make the move from DSL to Comcast Internet but you're right this is a good first start ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Linksys BEFSR41 - 4-port 10/100 router/switch, runs at 100mbps.

wish I could find a good cheap one that did gigabit

This might interest people that have Comcast's Internet service and have the need for speed ;) .
I found it while reading the San Jose Mercury News today .......

http://www.mercurynews.com/vindu/ci_8228560

Laters,
Mikef5

I just saw this and I am thrilled! We never thought Blast! would come here since we don't have widespread FTTP service here, but here it is!

:D

The cable-modem service, called Blast, will cost $67 a month by itself, $53 if you also have Comcast cable TV or $10 if you get any of the Philadelphia company's Triple Play TV-Internet-phone packages.

Yikes, a lot of pure profit in that internet service eh? :D

Now the question is, will the recently upgraded areas get it as soon as they're lit up?

I just saw this and I am thrilled! We never thought Blast! would come here since we don't have widespread FTTP service here, but here it is!

:D

There is one slight problem with the online article and the newspaper article that I read. I'll ask Mr. J. for a clarification on it before I get annoyed but it seems ( according to the newspaper version of the article ) that some areas will not get this on it's initial roll out. Guess which areas..... think SaraMilGatos....

Laters,
Mikef5

I'm waiting for DOCSIS 3.0 to be implemented and then I'll make the move from DSL to Comcast Internet but you're right this is a good first start ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

I finally got rid of AT&T's DSL a few months ago, I got tired of them playing games with the connection speed vs the rate being paid. Been pretty happy with Comcast's HSI, although the upload speed seems a little sketchy at times.

There is one slight problem with the online article and the newspaper article that I read. I'll ask Mr. J. for a clarification on it before I get annoyed but it seems ( according to the newspaper version of the article ) that some areas will not get this on it's initial roll out. Guess which areas..... think SaraMilGatos....

Laters,
Mikef5

Well the Merc article did say "Most of the Bay Area Territory."

I am sorry that Saratoga, Milpitas, and Los Gatos gets the shaft. Hopefully that will end soon.

Yikes, a lot of pure profit in that internet service eh? :D


In Verizon FIOS country, I believe the 16/2 tier costs about $50/month so it's right on point.

And of course they charge an arm and a leg if you don't get any other Comcast services. That's just how it goes.

But this is still huge news as Comcast is now rolling out faster service to non-FIOS areas. Most of us and even industry experts never thought that would happen. I wonder if Comcast Blast does well here, will Verizon rethink plans brining FIOS here? Or will Paxio consider widespread rollout? I think Blast's subscription numbers will give them an idea.

I finally got rid of AT&T's DSL a few months ago, I got tired of them playing games with the connection speed vs the rate being paid. Been pretty happy with Comcast's HSI, although the upload speed seems a little sketchy at times.

I use Sonic Net ( reseller of AT&T ) and have had zero problems with my service and their customer service is probably the best I've ever seen, it will be hard to give that up for just a little increase in download speed. Now when DOCSIS 3 gets implemented the speeds will be much higher than that, in the 50-100 Mbps range, and will be a definite reason for me to switch. ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Linksys BEFSR41 - 4-port 10/100 router/switch, runs at 100mbps.
wish I could find a good cheap one that did gigabit

Guys, who are excited about the new Comacst high speed, again, what Router would you use ?

As Walk misunderstands, the popular Linksys routers are all 10/100, meaning that the connection between the Cable Model and the WAN port of the router is only 10 Mbps. Even today, I'm capped at around 9.0 Mbps.

From the Chronicle,

The latest upgrade is not available in Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Milpitas, Saratoga, Sunnyvale, Half Moon Bay, Pescadero, La Honda, Santa Rosa, Hayward, San Leandro, San Lorenzo and all of Mendocino County.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/11/BUQ5USL6E.DTL


Mikef5, can we get Mr. J to confirm the above? Those all look like current or recently upgraded from 550 areas. Question is, we will get the service if the upgrade to 1Ghz has been done?

Guys, who are excited about the new Comacst high speed, again, what Router would you use ?

As Walk misunderstands, the popular Linksys routers are all 10/100, meaning that the connection between the Cable Model and the WAN port of the router is only 10 Mbps. Even today, I'm capped at around 9.0 Mbps.

I use a Dlink DIR-655, a little pricey but I got a deal on it at Newegg($115) one day sale thing awhile back, it's been working great. Very flexible with a lot of setup/functionality options.

From the Chronicle,

The latest upgrade is not available in Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Milpitas, Saratoga, Sunnyvale, Half Moon Bay, Pescadero, La Honda, Santa Rosa, Hayward, San Leandro, San Lorenzo and all of Mendocino County.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/11/BUQ5USL6E.DTL


Mikef5, can we get Mr. J to confirm the above? Those all look like current or recently upgraded from 550 areas. Question is, we will get the service if the upgrade to 1Ghz has been done?
Just got a clarification from Mr. J. and the newly upgraded areas will be getting Blast when they do their initial roll out along with the rest of the Bay Area. When the upgrades are completed in the areas that are still in the process of upgrading they will get Blast when their upgrades are complete.

So, it short, if you're already upgraded and that includes the newly upgraded areas, you will get Blast when it's implemented. The rest will get it when their upgrades are completed.

Laters,
Mikef5

This is very good news. I had heard that the local GM had finally decided to push this as a way of halting defections to DirecTV, and I think the chicago market had had good experience with it too.

I do agree that you'll have to look at the routers that you use and make sure they can handle the new speeds without slowing things down, esp. if you are using traffic shaping and other techniques to impose prioritization of various applications. Doing 16 Mbps is really not that hard, even with some of the older gear, but a lot of this stuff starts falling apart if you use all the features, etc...

A good way to see is to look and see what equipment has worked well in FIOS markets since they have had even higher speeds for some time already.

Has anyone signed up yet? The SFGate article mentioned that you might need to get a "newer" modem as well.

I use a Dlink DIR-655, a little pricey but I got a deal on it at Newegg($115) one day sale thing awhile back, it's been working great. Very flexible with a lot of setup/functionality options.

I have the same one as well. My only gripe is that you can't do MAC address filtering for just wireless...it's either none or ALL devices (both wireless and wired).

I have the same one as well. My only gripe is that you can't do MAC address filtering for just wireless...it's either none or ALL devices (both wireless and wired).

Maybe the newer 855 does?

I have a tech coming to my house tomorrow to install digital cable/phone/internet. I opted for the DVR for an extra $13 bucks a month. I'm new to digital cable and DVRs (1st time for both) so I have a quick question. Will I need to provide my own HDMI cable or will the tech take care of this?

Any other tips/tricks for a newbie?

it doesnt get turned on until the 22nd of this month.
it will be automatic (at least for business) and the same price.
for residential service I dont know.

Has anyone signed up yet? The SFGate article mentioned that you might need to get a "newer" modem as well.

Anybody remember the old TCI @Home service we used to get when Cable Modems first came out (pre-comcast) back in the stone age..Pretty Amazing that we are just now getting cable modem service that surpasses those speeds before the "Capping"...If I remember right I was getting 7M/800k :) It may have been faster, but the old Harddrives back then were smoking sucking it down that fast ;)

btw, as Keenan noted comcast, this upgraded speed (and the premium $'s you pay for it) is almost Pure Profit...The upgraded networks have plenty of extra bandwidth and they just have to send a simple command to the modem to increase the Cap (I presume)

btw, as Keenan noted comcast, this upgraded speed (and the premium $'s you pay for it) is almost Pure Profit...The upgraded networks have plenty of extra bandwidth and they just have to send a simple command to the modem to increase the Cap (I presume)

Yeah. My take is I'd be willing to upgrade just for the increased upload speed. My guess is having the extra dl bandwidth won't be that different since most sites will cap your download WAY before it gets to the 16mbps threshold. The people who will benefit will be those that download large files simultaneously from different sites. The ul speed though will definitely be beneficial for me. I can crank up my Vonage bandwidth cap w/o affecting other things that I'm doing online.

Has anyone signed up yet? The SFGate article mentioned that you might need to get a "newer" modem as well.

Not for me in Newark, CA. I called to upgrade (I had 6mbps service) and they said I didn't need anything new or need to do anything.

They claim I have it now, but I'll check when I get home tonight.

Apparently if you had the 8mbps tier, you're getting blast now, no extra charge. But that didn't apply to me since I had 6mbps.

Yeah. My take is I'd be willing to upgrade just for the increased upload speed.

Exactly. With the 6mbps tier, I had problems with XBOX live if my wife was using internet bandwidth on her laptop (usually in the form of an online game of her own OR p2p). It was because of our limited upload bandwidth. (6mbps tier has 384kbps upload, blast has 2mbps. It's more than 5 times as fast! The upload increase from 6mbps tier to blast blows away the d/l speed increase)

Now we are hoping that we can both do our own thing on the internet without affecting each other (especially her usage affecting my XBOX live). :D

So with all that speed and Docsis3 coming will Comcast be changing their policy on bandwidth.

Not for me in Newark, CA. I called to upgrade (I had 6mbps service) and they said I didn't need anything new or need to do anything.

They claim I have it now, but I'll check when I get home tonight.

Apparently if you had the 8mbps tier, you're getting blast now, no extra charge. But that didn't apply to me since I had 6mbps.

I do have it, but it seems that powerboost is gone. It's just 16/2, except that speed tests show it to be more like 13/3.

I have the same one as well. My only gripe is that you can't do MAC address filtering for just wireless...it's either none or ALL devices (both wireless and wired).

MAC addresses are easily spoofed anyways. The only security worth setting is WPA.

MAC addresses are easily spoofed anyways. The only security worth setting is WPA.

Easy is a relative term. I'm less worried about packet sniffers and close-proximity hackers then I am about my neighbors stealing my Internet connection. :D

Easy is a relative term. I'm less worried about packet sniffers and close-proximity hackers then I am about my neighbors stealing my Internet connection. :D
WPA addresses both, no?

Yeah, it does. I've just had problems with certain devices and WPA in the past. I have multiple routers and WAP's throughout the house and I've always had trouble getting them all to play nicely together with the various encryption types. I haven't tried in a while...maybe it's time I revisit.

Regarding the new "Blast" service - I am in a newly (as of January) upgraded area of Sunnyvale (94086 from 550MHz to 1GHz) and apparently the service is not offered in my area yet. I am unsure why since the infrastructure is now present and they have upgraded the upload to 16QAM. Pappy, I would actually prefer the 13/3 that you are experiencing to the advertised 16/2 since I could rarely saturate more than 12Mbps downstream but I would utilize at least 6Mbps uploads if I had such a capability (so any increase in upload is a great thing). If only Verizon offered their 20/20Mbps symmetrical service here (or any FiOS at all) - this would probably also reduce the price premium of Comcast's service. A man can dream..oh yes, a man can dream... :D

Do a search in this thread for FIOS. You'll see my posts (Rants) about it. We'll never have FIOS here (even where Verizon is the local telco in Los Gatos), and may not see widespread rollout of FTTP (Fiber to the Premises) in our lifetime.

But hey, maybe one hundred years from now, if you are lucky to be alive by then, we'll get to enjoy these kinds of services.

Until then, all we have is cable, dsl, and FTTN (fiber to the node) u-verse. :mad:

did the search like you suggested and was very disappointed with the news -
or lack thereof.

makes no sense why verizon is not providing fios at least in its telco service areas. the density here is the same as in northern va where my sister lives and fios is widely available there. los gatos is an upscale market where people have hd tvs and can afford whatever they want to charge for fios service.

i'm really getting sick of the corps making decisions for us consumers. we don't get to choose, they choose for us. just like the hd dvd/blu ray battle. it's not consumers choosing which format, the studios and netflix are making the decision for us.

I do have it, but it seems that powerboost is gone. It's just 16/2, except that speed tests show it to be more like 13/3.


I just did the upgrade and I'm getting 3 Mbps up everywhere. I'm getting anywhere from 9 to 22 Mbps down. I did my tests at http://www.speedtest.net/

http://www.speedtest.net/result/233711490.png

:D

soo with all the speed increases I wonder if they have increased the cap?

best guess was about 100 gigabytes per month - go over that and you'll get a nasty TOS letter, throttled speed, and eventually dropped.

I mean at 16Mbps that's only about 14 hours....

fixed, but the math is still correct.

16 Mbits = 2 MB.

2 MB /sec = 7.2 GB /hour = 13.89 hours before you reach 100 GB transferred (with a fully saturated link)

did the search like you suggested and was very disappointed with the news -
or lack thereof.

makes no sense why verizon is not providing fios at least in its telco service areas. the density here is the same as in northern va where my sister lives and fios is widely available there. los gatos is an upscale market where people have hd tvs and can afford whatever they want to charge for fios service.

i'm really getting sick of the corps making decisions for us consumers. we don't get to choose, they choose for us. just like the hd dvd/blu ray battle. it's not consumers choosing which format, the studios and netflix are making the decision for us.

Well from bugging Vindu Goel of the Merc and getting him to call Verizon, Verizon looks at its telco markets as regions, not by city.

So for the Bay Area, they are looking at
Parts of Los Gatos, Morgan Hill, and Gilroy. They determined there wouldn't be enough subs to justify the expenses. I believe this is because they expect the people in parts of Los Gatos to sign up, but don't expect nearly as much in Morgan Hill, and very few in Gilroy. If you get petitions signed in the Bay Area Verizon territory, you might get Verizon to change their mind.

For Comcast, bringing Blast here is unprecedented because they've never brought Blast into a non-fios market until bringing it here. I think that means Comcast is looking to compete with FIOS in two ways:

1.) Head to head in FIOS markets

2.) Raking in profits in markets FIOS chooses to ignore.

Number 1 was the given, and the priority considering FIOS was brought into many Comcast markets. Number 2 is now the logical extension we are seeing now:

If Verizon wants to crap on us, fine. Comcast will hook us up and take our money that Verizon doesn't want. When Verizon sees how much money Comcast rakes in here from ultra high speed internet, Verizon might change their mind about Northern California, you never know.

Blast is just the first thing to come. Docsis 3.0 will come out soon and Comcast will not shortchange us on it. They'll probably bring it here in 2009 with symmetrical speed goodness, like 20/20. Although it doesn't need to be symmetrical as long as its huge up and down. 50/10 would be okay too, so would 100/10, or 100/20. I doubt Comcast with Docsis 3.0 will offer 100/100, but you better believe I'll take it if offered, even if it is $150/month (Paxio is $145/mo for 100/100).

To hell with Verizon or Paxio if Comcast delivers. :D

soo with all the speed increases I wonder if they have increased the cap?

best guess was about 100 gigabytes per month - go over that and you'll get a nasty TOS letter, throttled speed, and eventually dropped.

I mean at 16Mbps that's only about 14 hours....

The limit is reported to be 200 gig

http://consumerist.com/consumer/leaks/comcasts-download-cap-is-200-gb-but-only-in-areas-with-subpar-networks-301316.php

Ok so, about a day and change to hit the cap.. :(

Though don't ask me where people are going to put 200 GB of data... every month.... But 16mbits is enough to stream decent HD video, so if ... well IF you found a place that served it up in the first place... if you watched 2 hours of that a day, you'd be rudely TOSed by about the 14th of the month...

Speaking of VOD, does anyone know what "SRM-20" error means? That's what I get about 80% of the time I try and use On Demand.

Today I received Comcast's nice glossy flier spelling out what channels are coming with the upgrade, dependent on what tier service I pay for. It states that within approximately 3 weeks of receiving the flier the new services will be available, most notably VOD and phone service. woo hoo??? ;)

I upgraded from 6Mbps to Blast yesterday and was told it would take effect today. I've power-cycled my modem a couple of times but I'm just getting 11.6/1.6 now to the SF test site. Here's my results to the LA server rsra13 used:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/233811636.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Are different parts of the Bay Area getting upgraded on different days?

If Verizon wants to crap on us, fine. Comcast will hook us up and take our money that Verizon doesn't want. When Verizon sees how much money Comcast rakes in here from ultra high speed internet, Verizon might change their mind about Northern California, you never know.

If that's Verizon's attitude, they'll be in for a rude awakening. High-paid geeks willing to shell out for ultra-high speed internet access, here? Nah, that doesn't sound like this market. :rolleyes:

That said, ain't competition grand? :D

I've never understood why such a (the?) definitively tech-savvy region (with a very high average household income to boot) seems to be the last place on earth to get the latest-and-greatest features. I understand Comcast had an uphill battle to fight infrastructure-wise after taking over from AT&T, but...

I upgraded from 6Mbps to Blast yesterday and was told it would take effect today. I've power-cycled my modem a couple of times but I'm just getting 11.6/1.6 now to the SF test site. Here's my results to the LA server rsra13 used:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/233811636.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Are different parts of the Bay Area getting upgraded on different days?

Everyone should have the same. That looks too low for the upload speed.

In my case, the change took effect at the moment. I just waited 5 minutes, just in case. Also, i didn't reset my modem or router. So the change was really transparent for me.

So, does anybody else suffering from service outage? I am also in San Jose, 95112 since last night. I assumed it was related to the upgrade. I guess I have to call Comcast tomorrow morning.

Today I received Comcast's nice glossy flier spelling out what channels are coming with the upgrade, dependent on what tier service I pay for. It states that within approximately 3 weeks of receiving the flier the new services will be available, most notably VOD and phone service. woo hoo??? ;)

I got my flyer about 4 weeks ago and Comcast is now saying my address has a target date of 2/22 (was 2/6). I haven't seen many cable trucks in the neighborhood yet, so I'm not holding my breath. But then, what's a couple more weeks after this many years? :rolleyes:

So, does anybody else suffering from service outage? I am also in San Jose, 95112 since last night. I assumed it was related to the upgrade. I guess I have to call Comcast tomorrow morning.

No outages in 95123.

I got my flyer about 4 weeks ago and Comcast is now saying my address has a target date of 2/22 (was 2/6). I haven't seen many cable trucks in the neighborhood yet, so I'm not holding my breath. But then, what's a couple more weeks after this many years? :rolleyes:

Where are you located in SR? I got a notice in December saying 2 to 3 months, but was never given a specific date. I'm in Rincon Valley, off of Middle Rincon. I can get UVerse.....if I wanted to. Too bad its not FIOS.

Looks like I'm getting my new Blast Internet speeds, but my Linksys RV042 router is now the weakest link. If I plug my iMac directly into the Comcast modem, I get quite different results:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/234030662.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

That's 3X the download speed I get with the router. Time to go router hunting!

I did some web searching and found out that the RV042 router is stupid about it's auto MTU settings. Changing it to manual MTU 1500 brought my Comcast connection through the router back to acceptable levels. I'm so glad about this because I didn't want to buy another router, and I can keep using my DSL line as a backup.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/234069568.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

If that's Verizon's attitude, they'll be in for a rude awakening. High-paid geeks willing to shell out for ultra-high speed internet access, here? Nah, that doesn't sound like this market. :rolleyes:

That said, ain't competition grand? :D

I've never understood why such a (the?) definitively tech-savvy region (with a very high average household income to boot) seems to be the last place on earth to get the latest-and-greatest features. I understand Comcast had an uphill battle to fight infrastructure-wise after taking over from AT&T, but...

Another thing to consider is that most FTTP is provided by local telcos, and most of the Bay Area is served by AT&T. AT&T, of course, is anti-FTTP (probably because of initial cost) and only gives us FTTN. Not surprisingly, AT&T's roll out of "U-Verse" (their garbage FTTN suite of services) has been very slow in the Bay Area. In addition, there are a few markets now where AT&T is going to FTTP but in the articles about bringing Blast to the Bay Area, an AT&T spokesperson clearly said they are not interested in being in the ultra high speed internet market, they'd rather focus on getting more people to switch from dial-up to broadband. To me that screams that AT&T is trying to make money off the poor instead of the upper middle class and rich. Not sure if this makes sense in the broadband market.

You mention how Comcast has had an uphill battle since taking over from AT&T for cable, well now the Bay Area's biggest hurdle to FTTP is our favorite company, AT&T.

If tomorrow, magically, all of AT&T's bay area markets were served with FTTP, Verizon would at least give more thought to bringing FIOS to areas where it is the local telco (at least the parts of Los Gatos and Morgan Hill).

Well from bugging Vindu Goel of the Merc and getting him to call Verizon, Verizon looks at its telco markets as regions, not by city.

So for the Bay Area, they are looking at
Parts of Los Gatos, Morgan Hill, and Gilroy. They determined there wouldn't be enough subs to justify the expenses. I believe this is because they expect the people in parts of Los Gatos to sign up, but don't expect nearly as much in Morgan Hill, and very few in Gilroy. If you get petitions signed in the Bay Area Verizon territory, you might get Verizon to change their mind.

For Comcast, bringing Blast here is unprecedented because they've never brought Blast into a non-fios market until bringing it here. I think that means Comcast is looking to compete with FIOS in two ways:

1.) Head to head in FIOS markets

2.) Raking in profits in markets FIOS chooses to ignore.



To hell with Verizon or Paxio if Comcast delivers. :D

This is not true. Blast was deployed in Chicago before us, and that was not a FIOS market.


They are deploying Blast to keep users from defecting to DirecTV, not because they think they can make a lot more money with it.

I did some web searching and found out that the RV042 router is stupid about it's auto MTU settings. Changing it to manual MTU 1500 brought my Comcast connection through the router back to acceptable levels. I'm so glad about this because I didn't want to buy another router, and I can keep using my DSL line as a backup.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/234069568.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

You're going to need a better (longer) test than these speed testers. I just have the regular 6Mbit service and I get 30M/1500 because of Speed Boost.

Longer files (over 100MB) show that speed only lasts for 5-10 seconds, then it drops down to 6Mbits.

If you use Windows XP/Vista open the task manager and flip to the network tab, it shows network speed in %, but with 100mbit it's easy to tell (6% = 6Mbit). Download a large file (300MB+) and see if it doesn't start out at 30% or so, then drop to 16% or whatever you expect.

Where are you located in SR? I got a notice in December saying 2 to 3 months, but was never given a specific date. I'm in Rincon Valley, off of Middle Rincon. I can get UVerse.....if I wanted to. Too bad its not FIOS.


I'm in Bennett Valley on the southern end of Summerfield Rd. I got the notice you talked about back in November or so. The glossy flier came in early January, and the notice that my rates would be increasing came shortly after that.:(

The rate change was to coincide with my getting the new service last week - not sure if they are planning on holding off since they delayed installation, but I have a guess.

blast service sounds like a blast

just have to wait until they provide it in los gatos. hopefully it will come along with the finalization of the upgrade.

now if we can just get comcast to give us 40-50 hd broadcast channels (all the essentials) we would be in heaven and the sats would be losing customers right and left

since that's not gonna happen any time soon, can we download hd movies if we're limited to 200 gigs a month.

I'm rebuilt and not even getting 1mbs download. WTF!

You're going to need a better (longer) test than these speed testers. I just have the regular 6Mbit service and I get 30M/1500 because of Speed Boost.

Longer files (over 100MB) show that speed only lasts for 5-10 seconds, then it drops down to 6Mbits.

If you use Windows XP/Vista open the task manager and flip to the network tab, it shows network speed in %, but with 100mbit it's easy to tell (6% = 6Mbit). Download a large file (300MB+) and see if it doesn't start out at 30% or so, then drop to 16% or whatever you expect.

With jharkin's speed tests, you are correct. The d/l speed doesn't mean it's blast.

I'm more concerned about his upload speed. I'm getting consistently 3+ Mbps upload with blast, but I sometimes had 1.5 with the old 6Mbps tier. That makes me think Jharkin doesn't have blast yet.

With jharkin's speed tests, you are correct. The d/l speed doesn't mean it's blast.

I'm more concerned about his upload speed. I'm getting consistently 3+ Mbps upload with blast, but I sometimes had 1.5 with the old 6Mbps tier. That makes me think Jharkin doesn't have blast yet.

Yeah, I was thinking the same.

Heads up to new blasties. I also had router issues. I too found that my download speeds didn't match when I directly connected to the cable modem vs. direct connection to router (it's a wireless router, but I don't trust wireless connections for this kind of diagnostics because there can be interference).

Of course I directly connected to the cable modem with a linux laptop. I would only do it with a linux or mac, not PC.

Sure enough there was a d/l speed difference. U/l was same, 3+ MBps. But the d/l differed by about 10Mbps.

I have a Netgear router and what I did was go to the netgear website and updated the firmware. Now I get the same d/l speeds no matter how I connect.

Yeah that's true, the download will vary a lot but the upload should be pretty consistent. 1500-1600 is normal for regular 6mb with upload SpeedBoost. If Blast is supposed to be higher (3000?) then you aint got Blast...

How much is Blast anyway? 6mbit (384k up) is around $42/mo. Might be worth it if it's only $50-something?
edit: ah... "Blast, will cost $67 a month by itself, $53 if you also have Comcast cable TV ". Hell $11/mo? I'm down. Can anyone (on 750mhz+) get it now?

It's supposed to be 16mb / ?? upload (without SpeedBoost that is) ?

I'm in Bennett Valley on the southern end of Summerfield Rd. I got the notice you talked about back in November or so. The glossy flier came in early January, and the notice that my rates would be increasing came shortly after that.:(

The rate change was to coincide with my getting the new service last week - not sure if they are planning on holding off since they delayed installation, but I have a guess.

Got home tonight, and the system was upgraded! On demand isn't working yet, but the new channels are all there. It's nice to finally have a reasonable set of HD channels. Now if there was just something worth watching ...:rolleyes:

I am definitely seeing blast now in Redwood City. After a reboot, my IP address also changed. I was having problems getting the download speed, but upgrading my firewall hardware fixed that. Nice and fast now. It's nice to have when downloading linux distro DVD's, though not all servers seem to be able to fill my pipe now.

I got a notice in December saying 2 to 3 months, but was never given a specific date. I'm in Rincon Valley, off of Middle Rincon. I can get UVerse.....if I wanted to. Too bad its not FIOS.

I'm also in Rincon Valley (near Calistoga Road) and also got the non-specific notice in December, nothing since.

They had two trucks putting in cable today on Chanate Road, near Parker Hill Road, but I haven't seen anything closer.

I have seen a cablecom truck in front of the Walgreens at Highway 12 & Mission a few times in the past few weeks. Seems like its getting closer.

You folks with TiVo Series 3 or HD DVRs, when new channels were added to your area, did they just show up, or did you have to do a channel scan and/or anything with the CCs?

You folks with TiVo Series 3 or HD DVRs, when new channels were added to your area, did they just show up, or did you have to do a channel scan and/or anything with the CCs?With tivos, you find out here first. Then you can tune the new channels manually, but without any guide data. You have to contact tivo directly to notify them of the lineup change as comcast doesn't notify tribune of the changes up front. After about a week and a half, the guide data finally comes through "automatically", at which point your tivo will give you a note that new channels have been added.

With tivos, you find out here first. Then you can tune the new channels manually, but without any guide data. You have to contact tivo directly to notify them of the lineup change as comcast doesn't notify tribune of the changes up front. After about a week and a half, the guide data finally comes through "automatically", at which point your tivo will give you a note that new channels have been added.

This only happened with the set of new channel additions in November. Every other time that I can remember when new channels have been added, they've shown up on my TiVo immediately.

This only happened with the set of new channel additions in November. Perhaps that's true for the cable plant you happen to be in but it's not generally correct. See the history on this forum. Every other time that I can remember when new channels have been added, they've shown up on my TiVo immediately.The problem I mention has been reported here over the last 3 HD channel rollouts at least.

Perhaps that's true for the cable plant you happen to be in but it's not generally correct. See the history on this forum.The problem I mention has been reported here over the last 3 HD channel rollouts at least.

I'm not sure what to say. I've had TiVos in two different areas (Redwood Shores and Fremont, which are definitely different cable plants), and the only problem I've ever had with channels not showing up was with the addition of new channels in November. Even then, while there were lots of people reporting problems here, there were also some areas whose lineups were updated immediately.

I guess we'll see what happens the next time new channels are added, if that ever happens...

With tivos, you find out here first. Then you can tune the new channels manually, but without any guide data. You have to contact tivo directly to notify them of the lineup change as comcast doesn't notify tribune of the changes up front. After about a week and a half, the guide data finally comes through "automatically", at which point your tivo will give you a note that new channels have been added.

Thanks, to both of you. I did seem to recall that TiVo needs to be notified, but as I've haven't had any new channels added for years so I don't remember how the process went. Still don't, as I still don't have any new channels. :p

Thanks, to both of you. I did seem to recall that TiVo needs to be notified, but as I've haven't had any new channels added for years so I don't remember how the process went. Still don't, as I still don't have any new channels. :p


But one of these days you'll come home and your Tivo will have bluescreened because it all of a sudden had so many new channels added after the upgrade final finished...and I'm worried about how your pacemaker will handle the excitement :)

With jharkin's speed tests, you are correct. The d/l speed doesn't mean it's blast.

I'm more concerned about his upload speed. I'm getting consistently 3+ Mbps upload with blast, but I sometimes had 1.5 with the old 6Mbps tier. That makes me think Jharkin doesn't have blast yet.

Thanks to yours and rsra13's encouragement, I did some testing with uncompressable 100 Meg files and ftp. This showed me that I was getting the old 8 meg service speeds, not the new Blast 16 meg speed.

I called Comcast tonight and had them troubleshoot. The agent checked my modem and found that indeed, my service was set to 8 meg. He sent me back over to sales to correct it. The sales agent waved her hands and said that I had Blast right now.

Testing with ftp and a large file as before showed that I now get 2.2 MegaBytes per second download. Thanks again!

This only happened with the set of new channel additions in November. Every other time that I can remember when new channels have been added, they've shown up on my TiVo immediately.In my town, there are multiple nodes that had the 1GHz upgrade turned on at different times, and the upgraded nodes had the extended lineup while the other's didn't. To deal with multiple lineups in the same area, they create "rebuild" lineups, and you go manually through the lineup part of the TiVo Guided Setup to pick the rebuild lineup. Eventually, so I am told, after the entire area has been upgraded, the "rebuild" becomes the single lineup for area.

But what I cannot understand is why it seems impossible to get full consistency between the zap2it (Tribune) lineups and what actually appears on my cable. It seems that there is a disconnect between the whatever organization decides what channels to carry, and the organization that actually configures the nodes. I've had them adamantly state that I don't get a particular channel, when I am staring at it coming out of one of their set-top boxes. The big problem in my area is that one of channels that is used by the TiVo Guided Setup to determine which lineup you have is incorrectly listed as being in my area, when it is in fact not (TVGuide Channel). Thus, when you go through the "what do you see on channel XX" routine for Guided Setup, you end up choosing the wrong lineup. I had to force the TiVo to explicitly give me the pick list of lineup alternatives so I could get the right one.

I have a condo in Santa Cruz and am interested in getting the least expensive service that is possible which includes the HD channels. The quote I get from Comcast is $59/month + tax. Does this sound right? (I've been with Comcast long enough to know not to trust what info you get on the phone!)

Basic cable plus HD box is about $20-25.

But that only gets you the broadcast channels.

If your TV set has a QAM tuner all you need is basic cable, which is about $15/mo., IIRC.

I'm hoping somebody can give me a quick answer and save me a bunch of hair pulling. I'm in Santa Rosa and have been trying to get an OTA antenna working for the digital signals from Sutro, with only limited success.

In an effort to increase the WAF of my Mythtv box until I can get my antenna/tuner situation ironed out, I have just had Comcast limited basic installed. I have scanned through the clear QAM channels and have managed to map out everything I expected to receive with the exception of KPIX HD and KFTY. I am getting the simulcast QAM version of the analog KPIX, but for the life of me I can't figure out what frequency on the cable corresponds to KPIX HD (i.e. the one listed as KPIXDT 705 by Comcast). I don't get any PSIP info when I scan Comcast in Myth, though I do when scanning OTA stations; I assume that Comcast doesn't transmit it.

Is there anybody out there who has easy access to the actual frequency Comcast is transmitting KPIXDT on? My lineup matches either "Digital" or "Digital Rebuild" on Schedules Direct, if that does anything to help narrow down what version of the Santa Rosa system I am on. TIA.

Question:

I am in 95125 (willow glen) and was wondering if anyone knows what QAM channel the CW is on?

THX

Previous two posters:

The Silicondust channel info (http://www.silicondust.com/wiki/hdhomerun/channels) site is your friend.

Previous two posters:

The Silicondust channel info (http://www.silicondust.com/wiki/hdhomerun/channels) site is your friend.

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem work for me unless I am misunderstanding the table. The Silicondust site is listing KPIX-DT as being on 63.7 for my zip (95404), if I am reading it correctly. However, there is nothing there on my system. In fact, Silicondust lists many of the clear QAM channels as being below 80 when I have successfully tuned everything but KPIX-DT between 80 and 128. For example, they list KQED-DT at 67.2, but I detect it on the 111 multiplex on my system. I know that Comcast has been rolling out a new system in Santa Rosa, and I suspect the Silicondust info is for the old system while I am on the new.

I am back to my original request. Anyone in Santa Rosa know on what QAM channel KPIX-DT is being transmitted (presumably on the new system)?

Thanks.

Update for the upgrades in the Los Gatos area

This week, if all goes well ( finishing up QC testing ), 4 areas in the Los Gatos area will go live, I don't know which ones only that there will be 4 areas that will be activated to 1 GHz. I'll let you know when the other areas will go active when I am given that information. So the upgrades continue, slowly but surely but they are getting done ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

I am in 95125 (willow glen) and was wondering if anyone knows what QAM channel the CW is on?

I'm using a Samsung DTB-H260F to tune in the clear QAM channels present on my analog Comcast cable, San Jose. The CW appears as channel 91-2 @ 1080i and 107-10 @ 480i. I have yet to see anything true HD on the 1080i channel, everything is 4:3.

WhiteWhiskers, try the CW during primetime, lots of HD, some good programs.

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem work for me unless I am misunderstanding the table. The Silicondust site is listing KPIX-DT as being on 63.7 for my zip (95404), if I am reading it correctly. However, there is nothing there on my system. In fact, Silicondust lists many of the clear QAM channels as being below 80 when I have successfully tuned everything but KPIX-DT between 80 and 128. For example, they list KQED-DT at 67.2, but I detect it on the 111 multiplex on my system. I know that Comcast has been rolling out a new system in Santa Rosa, and I suspect the Silicondust info is for the old system while I am on the new.

I am back to my original request. Anyone in Santa Rosa know on what QAM channel KPIX-DT is being transmitted (presumably on the new system)?

Thanks.

Try entering 95401 in the silicondust website. It seems to bring up the right channels.

KPIXDT is at 79.1.

Comcast missing dates for upgrades in Sunnyvale?

So I got a brochure from Comcast telling me about all the wonderful HD Channels I would get after the upgrade and it mentioned a date of Feb 18th. (I live in the area of Sunnyvale near Bernardo and El Camino Real bordering Mtn. View) Well Feb 18th has come and I didn't see any changes. So I decided to call customer service to find out. That person told me that my area doesn't show as though its been upgraded or scheduled for upgrade right now.

Whats going on Comcast? Promising customers for a long overdue upgrade and then not following up? Why mention the dates if you can't stick to them? I'm getting really frustrated and I'm sorely tempted to move to a satellite provider instead.

Anyone has any ideas what the state of the rebuild in Sunnyvale is now? Looks like Sunnyvale folks are destined to suffer the longest.

i dont know after going to my cousins house i realized how lucky i am he had no more than 10 hd channles.... anyways im waiting for the next channel/upgrade addition in East palo alto

Try entering 95401 in the silicondust website. It seems to bring up the right channels.

KPIXDT is at 79.1.

Thanks to you also, clau, but those channels don't correspond to mine either. There is no signal for me on QAM 79, and the others don't match up with the stations I do receive. I tried all the other Santa Rosa zip codes at Silicondust, and Rohnert Park's as well, but none of them are my channel layout either. Interestingly, entering 95401 gives cable results for 95403 and OTA results for 95356, which must be somewhere in the Sacramento market judging from the stations it lists.

Figuring that I had nothing to lose, I called Comcast to ask them. :eek: Two of the CSRs just transferred me and the third insisted that I couldn't possibly be receiving digital signals from them if I didn't have a set top box and that I must be getting the others magically OTA -- 50 miles from the transmitter and without an antenna! All she would do is give me the KPIX phone number. I will probably call KPIX anyway to find out if they know; I figure they might keep a list of info like that so that customers that want to watch their station can do so despite Comcast's stupidity/obstinacy. The only thing I can't figure out is if the Comcast CSRs really are badly educated or if it is a deliberate ploy on the part of Comcast to force people to get an STB. :mad:

An acquaintance works in the field for Comcast, so I left him a message to see if he can give me the info or connect me with someone who knows. Meanwhile, if anybody else has any suggestions besides Silicondust I would be happy to hear them. I'd also be glad to hear from anybody who knows the phone number for the Santa Rosa head end -- I figure they must know the frequencies, although they might not tell me either. Comcast only lists the 800 number in the phone book, unsurprisingly.

Thanks to you also, clau, but those channels don't correspond to mine either. There is no signal for me on QAM 79, and the others don't match up with the stations I do receive. I tried all the other Santa Rosa zip codes at Silicondust, and Rohnert Park's as well, but none of them are my channel layout either. Interestingly, entering 95401 gives cable results for 95403 and OTA results for 95356, which must be somewhere in the Sacramento market judging from the stations it lists.

Figuring that I had nothing to lose, I called Comcast to ask them. :eek: Two of the CSRs just transferred me and the third insisted that I couldn't possibly be receiving digital signals from them if I didn't have a set top box and that I must be getting the others magically OTA -- 50 miles from the transmitter and without an antenna! All she would do is give me the KPIX phone number. I will probably call KPIX anyway to find out if they know; I figure they might keep a list of info like that so that customers that want to watch their station can do so despite Comcast's stupidity/obstinacy. The only thing I can't figure out is if the Comcast CSRs really are badly educated or if it is a deliberate ploy on the part of Comcast to force people to get an STB. :mad:

An acquaintance works in the field for Comcast, so I left him a message to see if he can give me the info or connect me with someone who knows. Meanwhile, if anybody else has any suggestions besides Silicondust I would be happy to hear them. I'd also be glad to hear from anybody who knows the phone number for the Santa Rosa head end -- I figure they must know the frequencies, although they might not tell me either. Comcast only lists the 800 number in the phone book, unsurprisingly.

What kind of tuner do you have? I know that some Samsung TV's and tuners have trouble getting certain QAM channels.

What kind of tuner do you have? I know that some Samsung TV's and tuners have trouble getting certain QAM channels.

I am using an Avermedia A180 in a MythTV box. I have found out it isn't the best tuner for OTA, but all my other cable signals are strong (KPIX is the only station I can't find) so I am hoping it isn't a reception problem. Of course, I can't exclude the possibility until I know what the frequency is so I can test it with my tuner.

I tried to call KPIX, but they have the phone tree from hell with no option that I can find to speak to the receptionist. I tried all the engineering lines, but only got voice mail. I am going to call back once more and see if I can find a route to the station manager and see if he/she is interested. :)

Comcast missing dates for upgrades in Sunnyvale?

So I got a brochure from Comcast telling me about all the wonderful HD Channels I would get after the upgrade and it mentioned a date of Feb 18th. (I live in the area of Sunnyvale near Bernardo and El Camino Real bordering Mtn. View) Well Feb 18th has come and I didn't see any changes. So I decided to call customer service to find out. That person told me that my area doesn't show as though its been upgraded or scheduled for upgrade right now.

Whats going on Comcast? Promising customers for a long overdue upgrade and then not following up? Why mention the dates if you can't stick to them? I'm getting really frustrated and I'm sorely tempted to move to a satellite provider instead.

Anyone has any ideas what the state of the rebuild in Sunnyvale is now? Looks like Sunnyvale folks are destined to suffer the longest.

TridentTrinity, some parts of Sunnyvale are already upgraded, others are not. I'm over near Inverness and Eagle in south Sunnyvale, and our upgrade was activated about 3 weeks ago. Others on this forum might be able to advise more info on the rate of progress.

Comcast missing dates for upgrades in Sunnyvale?

So I got a brochure from Comcast telling me about all the wonderful HD Channels I would get after the upgrade and it mentioned a date of Feb 18th. (I live in the area of Sunnyvale near Bernardo and El Camino Real bordering Mtn. View) Well Feb 18th has come and I didn't see any changes. So I decided to call customer service to find out. That person told me that my area doesn't show as though its been upgraded or scheduled for upgrade right now.

Whats going on Comcast? Promising customers for a long overdue upgrade and then not following up? Why mention the dates if you can't stick to them? I'm getting really frustrated and I'm sorely tempted to move to a satellite provider instead.

Anyone has any ideas what the state of the rebuild in Sunnyvale is now? Looks like Sunnyvale folks are destined to suffer the longest.

That makes up pretty much neighbors. Before buying a tivo series 3 about
9 months ago, I read through the contract comcast had with the city of sunnyvale to see what they had promised the city -- if improvements weren't coming soon, I would have gone with Satellite. I don't have the document in front of me right now, but as I recall, it said that all of Sunnyvale was to be upgraded by the end of spring '08.

Hopefully, the person you spoke with at comcast was in error. Otherwise, I'm going to take it up with the City's franchise manager so he/she can force comcast to comply with their contract.

MikeF5
This is certainly good news, but hard to quantify. How many 'areas' are there in Los Gatos that need to be upgraded? What % of the total upgrade area is represented by these four areas? This info would help us understand more quantitatively where Comcast is in terms of the whole project. If you can get Comcast to provide just a bit more info that would be great.
Thanks
Mike

Update for the upgrades in the Los Gatos area

This week, if all goes well ( finishing up QC testing ), 4 areas in the Los Gatos area will go live, I don't know which ones only that there will be 4 areas that will be activated to 1 GHz. I'll let you know when the other areas will go active when I am given that information. So the upgrades continue, slowly but surely but they are getting done ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Yea right, at least not on Comcast. I think I'm finally going to switch over to Directv because I know they will have it. That being said, the wife and I like watching HD on demand and I also have phone and Internet through Comcast. Does anyone know the best/cheapest way for me to get HD on demand (and not just my neighbors feed :D), phone and Internet from Comcast. I have a TV with a cable card, but I don't think that helps.

FSN HD Bay Area and maybe KICU HD would be nice as well, but other than that I don't really need anything.

TridentTrinity, some parts of Sunnyvale are already upgraded, others are not. I'm over near Inverness and Eagle in south Sunnyvale, and our upgrade was activated about 3 weeks ago. Others on this forum might be able to advise more info on the rate of progress.

That's about a couple of miles away from where I am. But for those of us still left to be upgraded its really frustrating especially when others nearby are already upgraded. Worst of all giving misleading dates to customers doesn't help at all. At the very least they owe us realistic dates. Whats the big secret here? Its not like the Satellite guys have no idea that the area is being upgraded.