ah, but doesn't Digital Starter cost more? and doesn't it require Standard Cable? i don't want to pay more for something i used to get! (although that is the constant Comcast trend, huh?)
Digital Starter package price includes
limited basic
expanded basic
+ some throw-in channels.

There are no additional programming charges required beyond the Digital Starter package price and you can drop Digital Classic if you don't care about those channels. The only HD channel currently in Digital Classic is national geographic. Almost all the rest are part of Digital Starter, with a few premium and sports oriented channels that aren't.

It will still cost more than what you have now, but it might not be as much as you expected and it will get you the new HD channels they just added.

If it isn't that big a deal, then just leave what you have.

As soon as the DirecTV tuner for Vista is available I'm gone. Though I must say I like the internet speeds compared to DSL Elite I had before.

Well, then I think you'll be a comcast user for life... :-)

If Santa Rosa is that special, why did Comcast replace KFTY on analog with C-SPAN 2? (I can understand why KFTY was removed from analog - after all, it is also on digital, somewhere in the high 800s - but did somebody complain that C-SPAN 2 needed to be back on analog for some reason?)

I think you misunderstand the ways in which Comcast has made Santa Rosa special...

i'd appreciate any thoughts/experiences and whether i'm going to end up wasting my time taking time off of work down the road to get this squared away.

my guess is that you've got a splitter that's barely rated for digital cable (you should have a splitter with a frequenxy of 1000+ mhz), or you might have old/faulty wiring, or an extremely long run. Possibly too many splitters.

just a guess. we had a similar problem here where a few hd channels weren't showing up, so we had a newly laid high grade coax home run to the TV which resolved the issue.

Yep, try hooking your cable box to the shortest/most direct (ie now splitters/amps) connection you can and see if you can get those channels.

My parents were fine with a long run and older splitters until Comcast started popping some new channels up on the higher frequency's then some of the channels just showed one moment...cleaned it up and everything came in.

I think you misunderstand the ways in which Comcast has made Santa Rosa special...

There is hope. I'm in Santa Rosa and I've been upgraded. The new channels went active last week. I in 95409 just west of Calistoga Road, near Monte Verde Road.

TNT looks great - I don't think they are "3 packing" it. Sci-Fi, Universal, and most of the other are 3 packed. They look softer than the "real" HD channels, but I'm not seeing much pixalization, and it's still a big improvement over SD. Battlestar did have a couple scenes where they dropped some frames, that's kinda weird. TBS and History channel are stretching things, so they are just a waste of bandwidth.

Yep, try hooking your cable box to the shortest/most direct (ie now splitters/amps) connection you can and see if you can get those channels.

My parents were fine with a long run and older splitters until Comcast started popping some new channels up on the higher frequency's then some of the channels just showed one moment...cleaned it up and everything came in.

More likely that some of these channels are much lower in the spectrum than in the top end. I have 3 each at channel 66, 11 and 30. So the splitter wouldn't matter.

Santa Rosa also has ATT Uverse....

(ok you can stop laughing now)


Why doesn't the Bay Area have FIOS yet??

Because AT&T and Verizon don't want to poach each other's customers?

Santa Rosa also has ATT Uverse....

(ok you can stop laughing now)


Why doesn't the Bay Area have FIOS yet??

Only a very, very small portion of it, I'd guess maybe a few thousand homes passed.

hehe http://godzillabox.blogspot.com/

hehe http://godzillabox.blogspot.com/

Which one is godzilla? :p

Here's a very interesting quote from communications daily today on the DC circuit ruling:

Comcast needs no CableCARD waiver for a no-frills digital-to-analog converter that Chief Operating Officer Steve
Burke told investors it will begin deploying this year in some markets to reclaim analog bandwidth (CD May 2 p5), said an
industry source. The boxes won't work with encrypted programming or advanced services like VoD, but Comcast hasn't
said if it will need waivers. It won’t because “the boxes don't have embedded security," the source said.

So it looks like whatever programs the DTA will be decoding will be transmitted in the clear. This is VERY GOOD news, as it likely means the ADS versions of expanded basic will be transmitted in the clear so any QAM capable TV can receive them without a box.

Well, I got a letter today that says my neighborhood will be upgraded within 15 days. And the bill will go up within 15 days. I believe the second part, but I'm having a hard time with the first part.

Unfortunately we are not at the point that every possible home game is in HD (although I wish it was).

Yeah, I finally looked at a cached (http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:-w0T-hw3sZMJ:www.hdsportsguide.com/mlb/san-francisco-giants/+giants+hd+schedule&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us) version of the HD schedule and the game on the 15th wasn't ever on it, so my bad.

That said, the game the night before was actually supposed to be in HD, and it wasn't. Hence I still wonder a bit. My thought was with such a very public disaster with the Sharks and CSNBA-HD (entire periods cut out, not switching, just bad to the point of non-techie people noticing) that they might have looked ahead in anticipation, quietly pulled a couple of potential conflicting games off HD, and by the time the Sharks got eliminated it was too late to get schedules moved around to get them back. Got me.

NESN has done all the Sox home games in HD for several years now, and it'll be interesting to see with the new ownership structure of CSNBA bearing a bit more resemblance to NESN if they get closer to this model in the future. Then again, I'd take the Giants announcers over theirs any day, if not CSN's postgame chat hosts and both NBC and their Foxlike in-game cutaways. (Although interviewing Zito for live TV after loss number one million and 5 has to be a heck of a challenge for any journalist!)

The only HD channel currently in Digital Classic is national geographic.

sfhub, you positive on that? I'm pretty sure I had Digital Starter a while back and got none of the HD tier past the locals. Maybe I should try again, since I had to spend another $10.95 a month to upgrade to Classic and get the rest of the tier.

Although yeah, in this case with 0 db I'd double check internal splitters and then get the tech to check the run (since they often will just blame internal wiring/equipment if they find something wrong unless you press them to double check). I recently discovered the reason why my modem was dropping out so much was because there was a bad port on their octopus that had been costing me the better part of 15 db for at least a year, maybe longer. I'd always thought it was a bad notch filter or the internal cable. Heh.

Did you blink? I think it's done.

I've blinked a few times...but it's still not done here...we're still limited to analog only, no channels above 61 TWC, except a few odds and ends that aren't on the right channel (e.g. TNT.tv is on 122, which says its TDISP). The CSR a week and a half ago recognized these symptoms and said they know about it, it will all be OK by the end of May.

Where are you that makes you think we're done? I do appreciate the responses, byt the way...I'm still toying with the idea of going to D* anyway, but having waited this long I'd like to see how everything looks when the upgrade is complete.

Where are you that makes you think we're done?I believe that it's called "inside the fence". ;)

(...and bravely sticking his neck out.)

Why doesn't the Bay Area have FIOS yet??FIOS is from Verizon Communications. GTE became a part of Verizon. Only a part of southern Santa Clara county is served by Verizon. The rest of the Bay Area is PacBell->SBC->at&t. Verizon only offers FIOS in the areas where it offers landline service. (Being careful to not confuse Verizon Communications with Verizon Wireless, which is a partnership between Verizon Communications and the European telecom company Vodafone.)

That said, the game the night before was actually supposed to be in HD, and it wasn't.

I may be misremembering, but I'm pretty sure it was in HD.

sfhub, you positive on that? I'm pretty sure I had Digital Starter a while back and got none of the HD tier past the locals. Maybe I should try again, since I had to spend another $10.95 a month to upgrade to Classic and get the rest of the tier.
I would say in most areas the only HD channel in digital classic is National Geographic (that could change as they add new HD channels). Since our service area was built from different providers there are always some variations, but Comcast made a conscious effort to simplify the packages so the HD channels matched the SD channels more closely. It was confusing that you had to pay for extended basic for ESPN SD, but for ESPN HD, you could skip expanded basic and pay less for digital classic. As they implemented the package changes most of the HD channels moved from Digital Classic to Digital Starter. This was probably 2-3 months ago, possibly earlier for some areas. If you have an older package that can also affect which channels you get. Generally in that case you get what channels were there when your package was available, but the newer channels will many times not be included.

I've blinked a few times...but it's still not done here...we're still limited to analog only, no channels above 61 TWC, except a few odds and ends that aren't on the right channel (e.g. TNT.tv is on 122, which says its TDISP). The CSR a week and a half ago recognized these symptoms and said they know about it, it will all be OK by the end of May.

Where are you that makes you think we're done? I do appreciate the responses, byt the way...I'm still toying with the idea of going to D* anyway, but having waited this long I'd like to see how everything looks when the upgrade is complete.

my parents are just off knickerbocker between Mary and Hollenbeck and they were upgraded recently. Sounds like they've got something messed up at your house because I'm pretty sure you shouldnt have an outage like that (and the man behind the fence has a pretty good idea when all of the sections have been lite up....maybe you've gone up in smoke and time to call them again)

my parents are just off knickerbocker between Mary and Hollenbeck and they were upgraded recently. Sounds like they've got something messed up at your house because I'm pretty sure you shouldnt have an outage like that (and the man behind the fence has a pretty good idea when all of the sections have been lite up....maybe you've gone up in smoke and time to call them again)

We're just off Knickerbocker on the other side of Bernardo from there - where it curves back around up to El Camino - far enough away from Mary that we're maybe a different section, maybe not the same switch or whatever it is...but I'll call again and see if they think I should be upgraded now...thanks.

Sorry to hear that. The CSR in the Sunnyvale store said that we will not get Blast until all of Sunnyvale is upgraded. The CSR I called had no idea when Blast will be available.
Is there a simple way to tell if the cable is upgraded or not?
Is Blast (assuming we eventually get it) affected by a cable modem type as long as it is DOCSIS 2? I am still using an RCA model.

Not sure if this question was addressed in an earlier post, but does anyone know why there is no west coast HD feed for the new channels that have been added like Food, TBS, SCI-FI, TNT, HGTV, and HIST? I do not like that at 1 am in the morning these channels mostly go to paid programming and I have to end up watching the SD channel if there is something interesting to watch. If not, is there a plan to do so?

-Steve

Is there a simple way to tell if the cable is upgraded or not?
Is Blast (assuming we eventually get it) affected by a cable modem type as long as it is DOCSIS 2? I am still using an RCA model.

You will get a lot more digital channels once you're upgraded. Channels like KRON-HD, which are missing when we're not upgraded.

I believe the same modem works, but then your RCA is a very old modem. Right now, you should have Power Boost. What kind of download speed you get when Power Boost is on? I measured 29Mbps recently, for small files of course.

thanks sfhub.

yeah, i'm sort of torn. i feel that Comcast really inadvertently screweed me here because of the way their filtering works. i checked and i don't have any splitters right now and so i can only guess my filter and their re-allocating/reconfiguring of the frequencies made me lose USA and Discovery HD.

i'm sure taking a half day off work for a tech to find no signal issues is a waste of time and money.

my quandry now is to punt and just get rid of Comcast (i do not want to pay $60 a month to get back channels i had before), or just live with what i have for $39. losing discovery HD is a bummer...

ultimately, i may go really cheap and just drop down to limited basic if and when i upgrade my TV to one with a QAM tuner.

Digital Starter package price includes
limited basic
expanded basic
+ some throw-in channels.

There are no additional programming charges required beyond the Digital Starter package price and you can drop Digital Classic if you don't care about those channels. The only HD channel currently in Digital Classic is national geographic. Almost all the rest are part of Digital Starter, with a few premium and sports oriented channels that aren't.

It will still cost more than what you have now, but it might not be as much as you expected and it will get you the new HD channels they just added.

If it isn't that big a deal, then just leave what you have.

Status of the Santa Rosa upgrade?

I saw Comcast pulling fiber in NE Santa Rosa throughout the weekend. They were pulling it from Brush Creek to Farmers Lane. I'm east of there and have already been upgraded, as has another guy off of Calistoga Road.

sfhub, you positive on that? I'm pretty sure I had Digital Starter a while back and got none of the HD tier past the locals. Maybe I should try again, since I had to spend another $10.95 a month to upgrade to Classic and get the rest of the tier.
It was true in the past. Finally Comcast seems to have taken common sense approach and included HD versions of SD you already get. The recent channel sheet I saw at local Comcast office clearly lists ESPN HD etc under Digital Starter. You should get them without Digital Classic now.

Not sure if this question was addressed in an earlier post, but does anyone know why there is no west coast HD feed for the new channels that have been added like Food, TBS, SCI-FI, TNT, HGTV, and HIST? I do not like that at 1 am in the morning these channels mostly go to paid programming and I have to end up watching the SD channel if there is something interesting to watch. If not, is there a plan to do so?

-Steve
There is no west coast feed for those channels as far as I know. That's why many of them will re-run the same episode/show 3 hrs later.

Status of the Santa Rosa upgrade?

About a month ago I saw CableCom trucks pulling fiber in the east of the JC neighborhoods and around Franklin Park, as well as on Moorland towards Todd a couple of weeks ago. Didn't report it because those aren't near my area. I'd say 1/2 done? :rolleyes:

About a month ago I saw CableCom trucks pulling fiber in the east of the JC neighborhoods and around Franklin Park, as well as on Moorland towards Todd a couple of weeks ago. Didn't report it because those aren't near my area. I'd say 1/2 done? :rolleyes:

Pulling fiber maybe, but I doubt there's more than 5-6000 homes actually upgraded.

You will get a lot more digital channels once you're upgraded. Channels like KRON-HD, which are missing when we're not upgraded.

I believe the same modem works, but then your RCA is a very old modem. Right now, you should have Power Boost. What kind of download speed you get when Power Boost is on? I measured 29Mbps recently, for small files of course.
I actually cancelled my digital cable & HD about a month ago when AZNTV went off-air, so I have just standard cable right now. Clear-QAM tuner does pick up KRON, but I am not sure if it is HD. I am just using OTA for the major networks & PBS channels for digital feed. I will switch to Comcast HD or D* as soon as I finish my home theater upgrade. Comcast's pricing is really confusing. They don't even offer the service I used to have (digital classic)

Is there a more qualitative way to check? My cable signal diags page says the forward path frequency is 705 Mhz. Should this be higher for the upgraded system? I heard ~1Ghz.

How are you measuring the Power Boost download rate?
I use dslreports stest. DOwnload is ~9Mbps, upload ~1Mbps, latency to MegaPath, SF is 14ms.

The cable modem I have is RCA DCM 425C. It is actually an upgrade about a few years ago from RCA 215 that I got in the excite@home days.

If your forward path for your Cable Modem is 705Mhz then you are on an upgraded system...

The old ones are down in the 500 Range (since the system was limited to 550Mhz total)

lol...just like clockwork, Bones(KTVU) craps out again, this time for 18 mins, and right after a return from a break.

Good thing I have a reliable source for my TV viewing in DirecTV. :p

We're just off Knickerbocker on the other side of Bernardo from there - where it curves back around up to El Camino - far enough away from Mary that we're maybe a different section, maybe not the same switch or whatever it is...but I'll call again and see if they think I should be upgraded now...thanks.

I'm happy to report that we are now upgraded, thanks to some help from Barovelli :) For some reason the usual power-off/disconnect/wait a minute/power-on cycle didn't trigger the download of new info correctly, but a hit from Comcast did it. We're so happy to finally have the NHL Network, along with all the additional HD channels...should keep us happy customers for the foreseeable future :D

i live in los altos; and have the digital starter package.
should i be getting an upgrade too ?
should i call comcast and have them reboot my modem ?
im not too sure about all of this; i just got digital cable a week ago..

It was true in the past. Finally Comcast seems to have taken common sense approach and included HD versions of SD you already get. The recent channel sheet I saw at local Comcast office clearly lists ESPN HD etc under Digital Starter. You should get them without Digital Classic now.

Yes and no. Sci-Fi is not part of Extended Basic. It is part of Digital Classic but to get it you have to have Digital Starter at least. Limited Basic plus Digital Classic did not work.

I actually cancelled my digital cable & HD about a month ago when AZNTV went off-air, so I have just standard cable right now. Clear-QAM tuner does pick up KRON, but I am not sure if it is HD. I am just using OTA for the major networks & PBS channels for digital feed. I will switch to Comcast HD or D* as soon as I finish my home theater upgrade. Comcast's pricing is really confusing. They don't even offer the service I used to have (digital classic)

Is there a more qualitative way to check? My cable signal diags page says the forward path frequency is 705 Mhz. Should this be higher for the upgraded system? I heard ~1Ghz.

How are you measuring the Power Boost download rate?
I use dslreports stest. DOwnload is ~9Mbps, upload ~1Mbps, latency to MegaPath, SF is 14ms.

The cable modem I have is RCA DCM 425C. It is actually an upgrade about a few years ago from RCA 215 that I got in the excite@home days.

If the downlink frequency is 705MHz, the network is upgraded as far as the actual hardware is concerned. You may be upgraded with the added channels already, although in my case, it took a few weeks after the frequency was moved before the new channels showed up.

I was using this site to test my speed:

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

Wasn't it mentioned a few pages back that 3 new HD channels were supposed to start today in the Bay Area? Anyone have an update?

Yes and no. Sci-Fi is not part of Extended Basic. It is part of Digital Classic but to get it you have to have Digital Starter at least. Limited Basic plus Digital Classic did not work.I think you meant Expanded Basic and not Extended Basic? Apparently Sci-Fi channel is treated differently in the various communities of the Bay Area. Here Sci-Fi SD is on channel 68 and is listed as part of Expanded Basic. I checked with my neighbor who has Standard Cable (Limited + Expanded) and does not have Digital Classic and can view Sci-Fi HD on 736. I have Limited Basic + Digital Classic and can not view 736.

I think you meant Expanded Basic and not Extended Basic? Apparently Sci-Fi channel is treated differently in the various communities of the Bay Area. Here Sci-Fi SD is on channel 68 and is listed as part of Expanded Basic. I checked with my neighbor who has Standard Cable (Limited + Expanded) and does not have Digital Classic and can view Sci-Fi HD on 736. I have Limited Basic + Digital Classic and can not view 736.

Sorry, I should have mentioned as it has been mentioned here before that Sci-Fi is a part of "Expanded Basic" (think it was once also called Extended Basic) in some parts of the Bay Area but not here. It might be that inconsistencies exist due to "grandfathered" packages, updating old acquired database systems and consolidating them and technical complexities.

Wasn't it mentioned a few pages back that 3 new HD channels were supposed to start today in the Bay Area? Anyone have an update?

Starting on 5/21.

Wasn't it mentioned a few pages back that 3 new HD channels were supposed to start today in the Bay Area? Anyone have an update?

I'm guessing they'll be up around midnight...

Still on my hiatus from the group but still wanted you all to know that Comcast is still here and wants you to know that there are more channels coming this month.. ;)

Here's the email message.....

New Channels on May 21.....

Disney HD launches on the Digital Starter HD tier on channel 765 in Bay Area upgraded systems

ABC Family HD launches on the Digital Starter HD tier on channel 764 in Bay Area upgraded systems

Discovery Science HD launches on the Digital Classic HD tier on channel 756 in Bay Area upgraded systems

Laters,
Mikef5

Still more HD channels utterly useless to me. And Speed HD -- the HD channel I want MOST OF ALL (since Fox Soccer Channel doesn't exist) -- will never be supplied. Crap.

Starting on 5/21.

Oops, my bad.

lol...just like clockwork, Bones(KTVU) craps out again, this time for 18 mins, and right after a return from a break.

Good thing I have a reliable source for my TV viewing in DirecTV. :p

I didn't even notice it had skipped initially (which says a lot about the show), then when I realized it had, I decided it was a good thing that I was partially spared. That was one of the worst hours of television I've ever seen. That episode was the clearest example of a "jump the shark" moment I can think of.

Still more HD channels utterly useless to me. And Speed HD -- the HD channel I want MOST OF ALL (since Fox Soccer Channel doesn't exist) -- will never be supplied. Crap.

I second that!
It doesn't seem like they took our requests this time around......

Can anyone name any programming on those 3 new channels? Odd choices..

Can anyone name any programming on those 3 new channels? Odd choices..

Hannah Montana, in HD - get the best of both worlds.

I feel sorry for anyone who gets that joke, including myself.

Hannah Montana, in HD - get the best of both worlds.

I feel sorry for anyone who gets that joke, including myself.

L. O. L.

im moving to satellite.

:eek:

Ok, current HD Channel line up for the upgraded systems in the San Francisco Bay Area as of 5/21/08

700 HDOD - HD on Demand
701 HDOD2 - Free HD on Demand Movies
702 KTVUD - FOX HD
703 DKNTV - NBC HD
704 KROND - My KRON (My Network TV) HD
705 KPIXD - CBS HD
706 KICUD - Tv36 HD
707 KGOHD - ABC HD
709 KQEDH - PBS HD
712 KBCWD - CW HD
720 CSNHD - Comcast SportsNet HD - Bay Area
722 VS/GLF - Versus/Golf HD
724 ESPND - ESPN HD
725 ES2HD - ESPN2 HD
730 NFLHD - NFL Network HD
734 A&EHD - A&E HD
735 TBSHD - TBS HD
736 SCIFIHD - SCIFI HD
737 TNTHD - TNT HD
738 USAHD - USA HD
739 UDH - Universal HD
740 MOJHD - MOJO HD
743 MHD - Music HD (MTV, VH1, CMT)
746 HGTVD - HGTV HD
747 FOODHD - Food Network HD
750 DISHD - Discovery HD
751 APLHD - Animal Planet HD
752 TLCHD - The Learning Channel HD
754 HDT - Discovery HD Theater
756 SCIHD - Discovery Science HD (added today)
757 NGCHD - National Geographic HD
758 HISTD - History HD
759 CNNHD - CNN HD
769 AMCHD - AMC HD
764 FAMHD - ABC Family HD (added today)
765 DISHD - Disney HD (added today)
770 HBOHD - HBO HD
780 S-HDw - Starz HD
785 SHOHD - Showtime HD
792 MXHDW - Cinemax HD

According to the What's the next HD channel for Comcast? (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=424081) thread, the Bay Area is only missing ESPNews HD from the list of available Comcast HD channels. Apparently, Comcast has the rights to air ESPNews HD, but hasn't added it to any markets yet.

Limited programming from BET HD, Vh1 HD, MTV HD, WE HD, IFC HD, Music Choice HD, Movieplex HD, Encore HD, Nickelodeon HD, and Speed HD is availalbe on HD On Demand as well.

I didn't even notice it had skipped initially (which says a lot about the show), then when I realized it had, I decided it was a good thing that I was partially spared. That was one of the worst hours of television I've ever seen. That episode was the clearest example of a "jump the shark" moment I can think of.

Yeah, that was rather ridiculous, it was like the writers were told they had to finish that storyline before they intended to, so they basically picked someone at random to be the bad guy.

I don't know what Comcast has been doing, I know they're in the process of upgrading, but the past 3 days have been the very worst I've ever had with them. I'd say I've had a signal less than 50% of the time, and that signal is utter garbage, can't even watch TV the pixelation is so bad. Plus the HSI has been down, up, down, up, down...

No problems here so I'd say, upgrading.

ABC Family had baseball playoffs a few years ago... other than that... nope can't name a single show on any of those "networks".

Probably 97% of it will be stretched SD too. Utter waste of bandwidth.

This is the first time that I can recall seeing complaints (including my own) regarding new HD channel additions! I don't think I've ever seen these last three channels on any of our request lists to Mr. J., and that usually seemed to mean something. I also think it's a sign of the times with the bandwidth degradation going on now, that we don't want to see new HD channels that we have no interest in. Just MHO.....

lol...just like clockwork, Bones(KTVU) craps out again, this time for 18 mins, and right after a return from a break.

I watch Bones & House. I had this problem too, but not since I got upgraded a couple weeks ago.

Can anyone name any programming on those 3 new channels? Odd choices..

"Greek" on ABC Family channel. They've been showing it in about 1.6:1 format which is weird, so we'll see what the HD version looks like.

I watch Bones & House. I had this problem too, but not since I got upgraded a couple weeks ago.

Yes, I've been waiting and waiting, hoping when the area was lit up that it would solve those issues, problem is, it's just dragging on and on with an estimate now of the end of July for all of Santa Rosa.

The problems I've had in the last few days are related in a way to the upgrade, but only in the sense that it involves some of the equipment, the amplifiers, nodes, etc. Apparently there a severe tilt, or imbalance in the line in my area because they have not been properly re-balanced when the upgrade crew has been working with them. It's so bad that there's complete loss of signal, and then too hot a signal which creates massive pixelation, on and off for the last 3 days. Completely unreliable. Comcast said to call tonight when the sub-contractor was done for the day and if the problems persisted they would send out a network truck.

Of note is the fact that I've complained to Comcast for the last 6 mos about the sketchy signal quality/strength issue but nobody seemed to care. Now, with all the upgrade work going on it's become much worse. I don't dare pay a bill online as I'm not sure if the connection will stay up long enough to complete the transaction. In fact, tried to pay my Comcast bill and the connection went down, so they'll just have to wait. :D

Those 3 Disney channels are no doubt carriage agreement requirements for Disney networks. You want channel X, then you have to carry channels Y and Z.

Do they plan on actually showing anything in "HD" on those 3 newly added channels? So far everytime I've tuned in to one of them today it's looked like an SD picture to me.

It's almost like the last trio of HD channels we got.....
although they were better choices, after midnight two of them are nothing but paid commercial programming!

Yeah, that was rather ridiculous, it was like the writers were told they had to finish that storyline before they intended to, so they basically picked someone at random to be the bad guy.

I don't know what Comcast has been doing, I know they're in the process of upgrading, but the past 3 days have been the very worst I've ever had with them. I'd say I've had a signal less than 50% of the time, and that signal is utter garbage, can't even watch TV the pixelation is so bad. Plus the HSI has been down, up, down, up, down...

It wasn't just the thing about Zack. The whole episode was bad. Booth fakes his own death and doesn't tell anybody, except for giving the FBI a list of people to tell that conveniently doesn't get told to anyone? Please. And then they try to do explain Zack away with logic, which didn't make any sense. His character was too well established for that to be believable. I thought they were going to make it the psychiatrist, which I could have lived with, but Zack made no sense. And then the actual cannibal was shown for 5 seconds. They had ~4 post-strike episodes; they could have done a lot better. I could have done a lot better, and they're supposed to be professional writers.

Back on topic, my Comcast has been fine, except for the KTVU skipping (which also happened on House--skipped about 4 minutes). I'm just counting down my supposed 15 days...

Disney and ABC FamilyHD. Woo bloody hoo. No SpikeHD? :mad:

OTOH, I'm watching the Spurs/Lakers game on TNT HD. PQ is excellent. :D

So much for these latest 3 additions. Let's move on. What are the next ones coming?

2-1 and 5-1 RF Frequencies in Sunnyvale?

I have lost 2-1 and 5-1 on my Samsung 4071F. Can anyone tell me what is the RF channel for those in Sunnyvale? I think it is 79, but the TV can't find anything there.

This is the first time that I can recall seeing complaints (including my own) regarding new HD channel additions! I don't think I've ever seen these last three channels on any of our request lists to Mr. J., and that usually seemed to mean something. I also think it's a sign of the times with the bandwidth degradation going on now, that we don't want to see new HD channels that we have no interest in. Just MHO.....

While I 100% agree that these channels - and many other recent adds - have been meaningless to me, I cant help but think that it might be a good thing. Why, you ask? This forum gets a relatively narrow (but very important!) slice of the population. If Comcast sees the need to expand into other channels that might mean that HD is appealing to a much wider audience and they need to expand the channel offerings to match. More people watching in HD means studios making more content in HD means I can watch more of the shows I like on the channels I like in HD. It's a reinforcing loop and I think we might be in the ramp up phase of mass market viewership and out of early adopter days. Now if Comcast and others can just make sure they do that without degrading PQ for phone customers, that would be great.

Great additions..NOT! SciHD is OK and has HD content. Disney has almost no HD content, nor does Family. On top of that, we appear to be getting the eastern feed for Family so primetime is loaded with paid advertising. Complete waste of time and bandwidth.

^^^
I agree completely!
SciHD was interesting last night. Family was all paid advertising. Disney was cartoons.
This is the first time I have not placed HD channels on my Favorites list.

We'll need to update that old song so it is "500 HD channels and nothing to see." :D

Not seeing the 3 new HD channels, yet, through my DCT3412 (nothing in the guide). I receive all the others, and have automatically in a timely manner in the past, as they were added.

I am in Cupertino - anyone else?

At least Disney and Family are 720p and with these low bitrates it won't be as bad as the others :\ (If there's something to watch)

In addition to the three new channels sharing a frequency, MHD (MTV/VH1) has been moved and now shares with Comcast Sports and MOJO.

-- Don

for many reasons (all comcast releated) I got the joy of dropping comcast tv
immediately after the sharks lived up to expectations.
due to me also moving I am just getting directv hooked up this afternoon.

My question then is, is there an equivalent group for bay area directv people
like this one is for comcast tv?

I am however keeping comcast cable as it is the only option in town.
"enhanced" business cable give me a static IP, with blast speeds of
3M/sec continuous down and 1.5M/sec up. and no torrent blocking.
all for the low low price of $100/month.

I will miss the easy access that the dct-3416 box gave to my mythtv machine.
but the new hauppauge hd-pvr unit should give me the same functionality.
(its basically a converter of component inputs to x264 over usb output)

My question then is, is there an equivalent group for bay area directv people
like this one is for comcast tv?


just open up the local page and find the san francisco DBS thread. its not as active.

for many reasons (all comcast releated) I got the joy of dropping comcast tv
immediately after the sharks lived up to expectations.
due to me also moving I am just getting directv hooked up this afternoon.

My question then is, is there an equivalent group for bay area directv people
like this one is for comcast tv?

I am however keeping comcast cable as it is the only option in town.
"enhanced" business cable give me a static IP, with blast speeds of
3M/sec continuous down and 1.5M/sec up. and no torrent blocking.
all for the low low price of $100/month.

I will miss the easy access that the dct-3416 box gave to my mythtv machine.
but the new hauppauge hd-pvr unit should give me the same functionality.
(its basically a converter of component inputs to x264 over usb output)

I highly doubt there's a Directv group specifically for the Bay Area - seeing how every region on directv gets the exact same programming, problems, hardware, upgrades etc.

Comcast has different programming, hardware, problems, and upgrades that are specific to each market, so that's why there's a Comcast Bay Area group.

just open up the local page and find the san francisco DBS thread. its not as active.

maybe they dont have as many things to bitch about ;)

ps...You'll find them all listed here...SF is City #6

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=453241

maybe they dont have as many things to bitch about ;)

ps...You'll find them all listed here...SF is City #6

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=453241

We don't, really..but the thread doesn't get a lot of activity because DirecTV's lineup is uniform across the country other than local channels.

The only thing that's really discussed there is local custom installer availability, possible look angle problems, when is KQED coming(soon, probably within 2 months), the occasional loss of picture when a Sutro Tower station goes down(does not include KNTV as D* gets a hard line fiber feed for that station), things of that nature.

The bulk of D* discussion takes place in the HDTV programming and hardware forums as if you're in Santa Rosa CA or Key West FL, the programming and hardware is all the same.

BTW, I called Comcast the other day - they finally got the tilt/load balanced correctly late Wed night - and asked about their 8/768 HSI, and I about fell off my chair when she told me the price - $67 a month - are they frakkin' crazy? Is that what you guys are paying it?

BTW, I called Comcast the other day - they finally got the tilt/load balanced correctly late Wed night - and asked about their 8/768 HSI, and I about fell off my chair when she told me the price - $67 a month - are they frakkin' crazy? Is that what you guys are paying it?

It's $67 - $14 = $52.99 if you also subscribe to cable tv. And in upgraded "Blast" areas, it's 16 down, 2 up.

It's $67 - $14 = $52.99 if you also subscribe to cable tv. And in upgraded "Blast" areas, it's 16 down, 2 up.

That's what I found out when I called today, $52.99 isn't too bad at all for 16/2 once the upgrade is done here, thanks. I went with it, at least until I see what Sonic comes up with for their ADSL2+ service.

It's $42/mo for 6/.384 so $10/mo. more for 16/2 Blast is good, but yeah you have to have cable tv as well to get the bundle discount.

It's $42/mo for 6/.384 so $10/mo. more for 16/2 Blast is good, but yeah you have to have cable tv as well to get the bundle discount.

Yes, I was rolling off of a six month 6/.384 promo for $19.95 so the jump from $20 to $53 seemed like a lot for very little improvement. But the same price for 16/2 makes it much more reasonable.

On that note, do you need DOCSIS 2.0 or is 1.1 ok? Anyone with Blast and a Linksys BEFCMU10 (1.1)? Comcast web page says Blast is avail here...

In addition to the three new channels sharing a frequency, MHD (MTV/VH1) has been moved and now shares with Comcast Sports and MOJO.
In my area, MHD has not moved (yet?), but no longer shares with an active HD channel. However it maintains the QAM64 modulation which happened about a week or two ago.

CSN and MOJO still share the same channel, for my area.

Science/Family/Disney all share ch68 (489MHz)

I've been waiting patiently for the Blast Internet to be activated in the recently upgraded LG area. The local office told me Blast would be available when the whole upgrade was finished.

I was tired of waiting so I contacted online support and they said it was available and they would activate it for me.

Within 1 minute I now have

Download Speed: 20302 kbps (2537.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 3130 kbps (391.3 KB/sec transfer rate)

according to http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

So if you're paying for the higher speed internet make sure you're getting what you are paying for.

MHD comes in every once in awhile but usually I just get the "Channel will be available shortly" message. I guess I should call Comcast about it..

My Tivo guide doesn't have any data yet for the 3 new HD channels (Sci HD, ABC Family & Disney), although I can tune them in and watch fine, since they arrived..
I'm in Foster City... anyone else on Peninsula/Bay Area side have Tivo schedule/guide data for the new ones yet?

Strangely enough, the online schedule for my account seems to know about the channels, just not my Tivo itself, despite manually connecting a few times...

Edit:
OK , I finally connected manually again given that online shows the schedules, and now it's showing just fine.
Never mind! (but just in time to see/record the Mars Phoenix landing coverage on SciHD, hope it has similar luck!)

My Tivo guide doesn't have any data yet for the 3 new HD channels (Sci HD, ABC Family & Disney), although I can tune them in and watch fine, since they arrived..
I'm in Foster City... anyone else on Peninsula/Bay Area side have Tivo schedule/guide data for the new ones yet?

Strangely enough, the online schedule for my account seems to know about the channels, just not my Tivo itself, despite manually connecting a few times...

They showed up on my S3 a few days before. Have you forced an update?

I've been waiting patiently for the Blast Internet to be activated in the recently upgraded LG area. The local office told me Blast would be available when the whole upgrade was finished.

I was tired of waiting so I contacted online support and they said it was available and they would activate it for me.

Within 1 minute I now have

Download Speed: 20302 kbps (2537.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 3130 kbps (391.3 KB/sec transfer rate)

according to http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

So if you're paying for the higher speed internet make sure you're getting what you are paying for.

I called Comcast and had them upgrade me to the Blast service. It took another call to technical support, but they finally did the switch. I'm in Sunnyvale and our network was upgraded about a month ago. I have been paying for the 8Mbps tier, so that upgrade should be free.

My Tivo guide doesn't have any data yet for the 3 new HD channels (Sci HD, ABC Family & Disney), although I can tune them in and watch fine, since they arrived..
I'm in Foster City... anyone else on Peninsula/Bay Area side have Tivo schedule/guide data for the new ones yet?

Strangely enough, the online schedule for my account seems to know about the channels, just not my Tivo itself, despite manually connecting a few times...

Edit:
OK , I finally connected manually again given that online shows the schedules, and now it's showing just fine.
Never mind! (but just in time to see/record the Mars Phoenix landing coverage on SciHD, hope it has similar luck!)

I don't have the new channels listed in the Guide either (but I did notice they were in the Online Guide yesterday). I reported them from TiVo's website on Wednesday, and got the standard "7-10 business days" reply.

Forcing another update now (been forcing them every time I think about it).

The Discovery Science Channel coverage of the Mars landing sucked. They spent most of the time showing pre-filmed interviews and CGI animations, and the few times they did show the live coverage from JPL, the commentators kept cutting over the NASA feed audio.

I miss the HDNet coverage of the shuttle launches (from back when I had HDNet on Adelphia). They do a great job with real experts and former astronauts, and then cut to the uninterrupted NASA feeds at T-5:00 or so.

Guide Data is now listed for the 3 new channels :)

Something else to get Mikef5's blood pressure up, because of the large amount of 4x3 analog displays still in use, and the fact that analog transmissions cease Feb '09, channels bugs are moving to the 4x3 safe area, even on HD material. I noticed KPIX has already done it, and I believe KNTV(NBC) may have already as well.

Additionally, it's been posted that NBC is producing scripted primetime content to be 4x3 safe, not exactly sure what that means, but I'm guessing all the action will be center-cut, with the rest of the screen area used as basically window dressing, displaying parts of the scene not integral to the story.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=997687

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1032217

So, get out your hammers, baseball bats and shotguns, and hunt down those pesky 4x3 displays and destroy them so we can get back to having HD displayed the way it's supposed to be. :D

(now, where's my Blu-ray player at...)

Something else to get Mikef5's blood pressure up, because of the large amount of 4x3 analog displays still in use, and the fact that analog transmissions cease Feb '09, channels bugs are moving to the 4x3 safe area, even on HD material. I noticed KPIX has already done it, and I believe KNTV(NBC) may have already as well.
.......

So what else is new? NFL, NASCAR, IRL, baseball, etc, etc STILL center around a 4x3 display. The two races today are prime examples - they use nearly 1/8 of the top of the display for 3 lines of barely useful information. If they used the full width of the widescreen broadcast, they could cut it to two lines. Not to mention that being a hi-def broadcast they could cut down the font size and push it close to the top of the screen (less overscan on most digital displays). Same with the driver's stats they put up - right smack in the middle of the hidef action. Idiots!

What's really funny is when a station puts it's 'XYZ HD' logo in the lower right, but NOT all the way in the corner - rather in a spot for the 4x3 sets to see. WTF??

My BP is not raised, but it is annoying.

-Dave

What's really funny is when a station puts it's 'XYZ HD' logo in the lower right, but NOT all the way in the corner - rather in a spot for the 4x3 sets to see. WTF??

My BP is not raised, but it is annoying.

-Dave

That will be the norm, expect to see it on all stations soon. The logo/bug will be in the 4x3 safe area so those TV that only display a 4x3 image will be able to see it. One of a broadcaster's greatest fears is for a viewer to not know what station they are viewing.

Since there won't be anymore analog broadcasts, DBS and cable will be downconverting and center-cutting the current(and eventually only) digital transmission to display on 4x3 screens as a full 4x3 image, no letterboxing and/or pillarboxing.

What's worse is that NBC has apparently already instructed the creators of it's HD programming to frame for a 4x3 safe area, the additional area of a 16x9 image will become superfluous, there will still be content in those areas, but nothing that would influence the material in an adverse way. For example, you won't see a person on the far right of a 16x9 image shoot another person on the far left of that image, all that action will be contained in the 4x3 area so those viewers can see who shot who.

As noted by another poster in one of the above threads, imagine a HD newscast with a picture of someone and the "not" part of a "not guilty" caption be cut off on a 4x3 display because the word was displayed beyond the 4x3 safe area.

I'm tellin' ya, HDTV is NOT getting better, it's getting worse.

Additionally, it's been posted that NBC is producing scripted primetime content to be 4x3 safe, not exactly sure what that means, but I'm guessing all the action will be center-cut, with the rest of the screen area used as basically window dressing, displaying parts of the scene not integral to the story.
I was under the impression that has always been the case with TV shows.

I'm tellin' ya, HDTV is NOT getting better, it's getting worse.
Wait till you start getting the KQED effect of replacing an HD channel with 4 SD channels. However much we'd like to think it does, Digital != HD. For broadcasts, HD is always digital, but digital isn't always HD.

Since the new channels were added I'm getting heavy stuttering on various HD channels... like CNNHD. I'd say it is signal strength issues, but I had comcast out here 2 weeks ago to verify that my signal strength is "awesome". Anyone else notice any issues, maybe comcast's encoder that is lowering the bitrates is having performance issues?
I'm in burlingame, 94010.

Yup, most shows are shot "center framed" for 4:3 and I too will be glad when that goes away. Even a lot of movies are shot that way. Movie executives think (if you can call it thinking) commercially and also seem to be afraid of some Joe Six Pack complaining about "them black bars" or the new "black bars" on his 16:9 and hence we get 2:35:1 zoomed in too.

I would think that HDTV early adopters have more buying power than the laggers and they would cater to us, wouldn't you? I don't know how often I've rented an independent film DVD where the label said 16:9 aspect ratio but when player was actually 4:3 letterboxed. :( When I contacted one DVD company they wrote back that was what they studio gave them and the director gave them the extras (which happened to be 16:9).

I've never rented an HD movie on Comcast but if they crop any 2:35:1 film I rent that'll be the last one. Well Keenan, my BluRay player is right above my HD-DVD player in my cabinet though it doesn't get as much use as I'd like these days. BluRay may become the LaserDisc of the era as the arrogance of that camp makes it too expensive for a lot of film producers to play that game.

I was under the impression that has always been the case with TV shows.

Probably so, but remember that NBC would letterbox their HD shows on the 4x3 signal, at least I think they did. Now there won't be anymore letterboxing because once that image is center-cut and downconverted for 4x3 displays it would be windowed on those screens. Not anymore.

The biggest annoyance will be the 4x3 safe channel bug, especially for NBC as it sits on the left and they're usually hawking something, the Olympics, The Preakness, etc. In a screen shot of Conan in one of those threads, it looks like guest Kevin Spacey is promoting whatever it was that was in the bug.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13928792#post13928792

Imagine female guests, that bug will be smack dab covering up their legs.

Yup, most shows are shot "center framed" for 4:3 and I too will be glad when that goes away. Even a lot of movies are shot that way. Movie executives think (if you can call it thinking) commercially and also seem to be afraid of some Joe Six Pack complaining about "them black bars" or the new "black bars" on his 16:9 and hence we get 2:35:1 zoomed in too.

I would think that HDTV early adopters have more buying power than the laggers and they would cater to us, wouldn't you? I don't know how often I've rented an independent film DVD where the label said 16:9 aspect ratio but when player was actually 4:3 letterboxed. :( When I contacted one DVD company they wrote back that was what they studio gave them and the director gave them the extras (which happened to be 16:9).

I've never rented an HD movie on Comcast but if they crop any 2:35:1 film I rent that'll be the last one. Well Keenan, my BluRay player is right above my HD-DVD player in my cabinet though it doesn't get as much use as I'd like these days. BluRay may become the LaserDisc of the era as the arrogance of that camp makes it too expensive for a lot of film producers to play that game.

As I noted though, I'll probably be in my 60's by the time the 4x3 focus finally goes away.

I think Blu-ray will catch on, probably not as much as DVD, but my point was film producers don't worry about 4x3 safe filming, and with TV shows on BD there won't be any annoying bug. I waited to watch Mad Men as I wanted to see it in HD, and as luck would have it, it's coming out on Blu-ray very soon, so not only will I see it in it's best image quality, there won't be any bug on the screen either.

As I noted though, I'll probably be in my 60's by the time the 4x3 focus finally goes away.

I'm already in my 60s. :rolleyes:

Wait till you start getting the KQED effect of replacing an HD channel with 4 SD channels. However much we'd like to think it does, Digital != HD. For broadcasts, HD is always digital, but digital isn't always HD.

Slightly OT, but anyone notice those "digital converters" they sell at Walmart now. You know, for the Feb. 2009 analog shutdown?

They don't even output HD!

So basically you buy it so you can still watch your TV from your antenna, but if those people go out to buy an HDTV to watch OTA HD, and that TV does not have an ATSC tuner, they'll be in for a rude surprise (or they'll think they are watching HD as many now do, when it's really just awful stretch-o-vision in 480i).

Slightly OT, but anyone notice those "digital converters" they sell at Walmart now. You know, for the Feb. 2009 analog shutdown?

They don't even output HD!

So basically you buy it so you can still watch your TV from your antenna, but if those people go out to buy an HDTV to watch OTA HD, and that TV does not have an ATSC tuner, they'll be in for a rude surprise (or they'll think they are watching HD as many now do, when it's really just awful stretch-o-vision in 480i).

IIRC, all TV sold since some time last year have to have an ATSC tuner onboard.

I'm already in my 60s. :rolleyes:

I guess we'll both have updated our vision prescriptions, possibly multiple times, before we see true HD images again. :p:D

Imagine female guests, that bug will be smack dab covering up their legs.
That must be fallout from Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction :)

They don't even output HD!
Not only that, but they are not allowed to output component and still qualify for the coupon. They are really intended to be barebones devices. I haven't seen one that outputs anamorphic either and probably only one that outputs svideo.

On the other hand, most people will be using these devices with equipment that isn't capable of more than SD, and downconverting HD can be as good as DVD, which many people seem to be happy with.

Anybody with newer equipment will just have the tuners builtin or will be using a more capable STB.

That must be fallout from Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction :)

lol...

When is KNTV's deal with NBC over? Thier signal is bad enough, but they aren't even broadcasting the HD feed of American Gladiators tonight...

Too bad Young communications was so greeded, they ended up screwing both KRON and NBC.

Idiots.

fitprod

When is KNTV's deal with NBC over? Thier signal is bad enough, but they aren't even broadcasting the HD feed of American Gladiators tonight...

Too bad Young communications was so greeded, they ended up screwing both KRON and NBC.

Idiots.

fitprod

just checked the programming thread and other markets were having issues with HD on gladiators. on my recorded version, it was SD at first, now its HD. not kntv, but nbc's issue.

When is KNTV's deal with NBC over? Thier signal is bad enough, but they aren't even broadcasting the HD feed of American Gladiators tonight...

Too bad Young communications was so greeded, they ended up screwing both KRON and NBC.

Idiots.

fitprod

There is no deal. NBC/Universal owns KNTV.

NBC bought it when the fools at KRON(Young Broadcasting) couldn't agree on a price/arrangement for KRON. Young paid the 2nd highest price ever paid for a TV station, some $880 million, and now it's worth about a third of that amount. No network affiliation is a big part of the drop. I believe Young has put the station on the market just recently.

There is no deal. NBC/Universal owns KNTV.

NBC bought it when the fools at KRON(Young Broadcasting) couldn't agree on a price/arrangement for KRON. Young paid the 2nd highest price ever paid for a TV station, some $880 million, and now it's worth about a third of that amount. No network affiliation is a big part of the drop. I believe Young has put the station on the market just recently.

Well, that should go well... Especially since there are rumblings that Fox is looking for a new affiliate.

fitprod

Well, that should go well... Especially since there are rumblings that Fox is looking for a new affiliate.
Why? Didn't KTVU get rid of the biggest problem Fox seemed to have - having network programming pre-empted for Giants games?

(Or maybe somebody thinks that, somehow, KTUV has some way of controlling what is being recorded on a TiVo, and that the American Idol finale cut off right when Ryan was announcing the winner - "David CLICK" - because KTVU wanted to start its 10:00 News on time? Actually, this incident (nationwide, not just on KTVU) was mentioned when they had the AI finalists on Larry King on Memorial Day.)

-- Don

Well, that should go well... Especially since there are rumblings that Fox is looking for a new affiliate.

fitprod

KTVU is one of the premier stations in the nation, I don't see Cox letting it go, or FOX ponying up the money to buy it.

Scheduled on CST Plus, they dumped Jewerly then blank screen but the INfo has the A's vs Toronto game listed...???

Comcast finally got the A's game on 1 hour late

[Sorry if this has already been mentioned - I started a thread at Tivocommunity and someone suggested I post here. I generally don't follow this forum]

Short version: Comcast is currently offering a deal for new customers: Digital Starter plus 6.0Mbps Internet (incl Powerboost) for 59.99/mo (12 months). However, be warned that if you sign-up, you cannot add any other services (premium channels, other digital packages, etc) or you lose the bundle discount.

Long version:
I just switched from DirecTV to Comcast cable in order to use a Tivo HD. I got this postcard from Comcast for the $59.99 deal and figured the savings would help offset the cost of the Tivo HD box ($230 Amazon + $299 Lifetime).

Before I signed up, I specifically asked the rep if I could add other channels/packages since I didn't understand the different channel lineups at the time. She said "of couse, and you can even upgrade via the website." Great - I've always changed packages online with DirecTV and it only took a minute [this was the first bit of misinformation from the rep as I've found no way to change things online].

After getting my Cablecard installed in my Tivo (which was a painful experience), I asked to add some additional programming. "No problem. But you know you'll lose the bundle rate? We'll need to switch you to the 56.99 Digital Starter plus $42.95 for Internet service in order to add other programming packages." This is contrary to what the original sales rep told me so I was a little peeved as I really wanted some of the Digital Preferred channels. After talking to two different supervisors and my local branch office, they all gave me the same line that the "computer wouldn't let them change my service" without the price jumping from $59.99/mo to roughly $120/mo. I expected to pay $75/mo ($60 bundle+$15 Preferred pkg) to get the Preferred channels but there was nothing they could offer in this range. They did offer the Triple Play package for around $120/mo but i didn't want to change my landline and I only budgeted <$80/mo for cable plus internet.

In any case, I was a little peeved. But I got my rant out elsewhere and have decided to pocket the extra $15/mo I was going to spend and will use it on Netflix and downloads. Anyway, this seems like a great deal if you're only interested in Digital Starter. The Powerboost has been incredible so far.

This is going to seem like a troll post, since the hullabaloo about three-packing seems to have transmuted into resigned murmuring over the last few weeks. But I trust my regular posts here will immunize me from the accusation.

Still wrangling with the issues associated with a possible transition from Comcast to DirecTV. The primary issues are dish placement (my wife is not keen on a dish that would be visible from the front of the house) and the need for STB for the bedroom TV (which is currently cablecard). The third issue, though, is PQ. My wife remembers that I was quite happy with the cable alternative when we completed our remodel because the PQ was better than satellite. (She even remembers me using terminology like "reduced bit rate" with regard to satellite HD.) And thus when I complain about the three-pack effects--which for me are most noticeable in judder or dropped frames--she reminds me of my past words.

Resulting questions:

1. Has satellite solved this problem in their HD transmission by switching to a more effective compression algorithm (MPEG4?) that allowed them to up their data rate? Or are satellite advocates merely saying that constrained bit rates on satellite are better than what we are seeing with the current three-packing?

2. What's the realistic timeline for Comcast to fix the three-packing problem, assuming they are even inclined to do so? (I have my doubts--I think that cable is generally going to be driven by the mass market, and the mass market is more likely to be interested in more channels than in higher PQ.) It seems very unlikely to me that they will be able to adopt new technology (some kind of DOCSIS upgrade or MPEG4 or whatever) for years. OTOH, they might be able to do a better job (don't want to use loaded terms here--more effective job?) of squeezing some bits out to allow three-packing. It would seem to me the result would be reduced HD resolution . . . but perhaps of a less offensive form than we have been seeing to date, and perhaps more on a par with what was (previously) reported on satellite, such that the switch would not be worth it?

3. Is there any way around the STB problem with Satellite? I presume you are stuck having a STB in every location you want a satellite signal?

Yours in spirited but polite inquiry and debate,

Tom

I can only speak to question 1...
I recently dropped comcast tv for directv and the HD PQ is way better
on the good channels and about the same as comcast on the bad HD channels.
why the difference I am not knowing, are some of the channels old mpeg2?
is it a source issue and directv is just the middle man?...
Its not always perfect, sometimes the encoding isnt quite up to snuff
and get a frame or two of macroblocking. its not like hourly or antyhing
though, every couple of days I see some issues type thing.
but the smithsonian and discovery science channels when doing new
1080 shows look way better then anything I had gotten on comcast in a while.
the monico formula 1 race over the weekend was to die for image quality wise.


1. Has satellite solved this problem in their HD transmission by switching to a more effective compression algorithm (MPEG4?) that allowed them to up their data rate? Or are satellite advocates merely saying that constrained bit rates on satellite are better than what we are seeing with the current three-packing?

DirectTV launched a new bird last year that allowed them to switch to MPEG4 for a lot of HD channels. MPEG4 is more efficient - the data rate isn't higher, in fact it's probably lower than the old MPEG2 but it looks better because MPEG4 is a better compression codec. Some HD channels are still using MPEG2 though (on cable, ALL channels use MPEG2). Keep in mind that tv networks send the data in MPEG2 so with satellite there will still be a slight loss of quality when transcoding from MPEG2->4 - that is at least until networks start sending out MPEG4 streams, if ever - but the same thing is (now) happening with Comcast and they are going from MPEG2 BACK to MPEG2 so the quality is even lower...


Are they going to "fix" this? Only time will tell. In order to switch to MPEG4 cable would require all new STBs (cable boxes in every home) which is a daunting task and so not likely to happen. What they could do is use "SDV" which is basically what VOD "On Demand" is, and every cable STB already supports this. This would mean longer channel changes though since they would be happening back at the Comcast plant rather than locally at your box (think how long it takes to start a new VOD show... you would see that "please wait" screen for 5-10 seconds every time you change the channel...)

The other thing cable could do is turn off the analog channels, similar to what broadcast tv is set to do about 9 months from now. Since each analog channel can hold 2 HD channels (or... 3.....:mad: ) this would free up a lot of space, however you would be in the same boat as satellite in that every TV in the house like your bedroom TV would require a converter box. This would also be very expensive for cable to do, and they are under no obligation from the FCC to do it (unlike broadcast tv).

KTVU is one of the premier stations in the nation, I don't see Cox letting it go, or FOX ponying up the money to buy it.
I think the original point was that Fox is looking to switch from KTVU (the way NBC "switched" from KRON, although in that case, they didn't go to a new station, but increased the coverage area of KNTV), and not that KTVU was looking to sell.

Didn't Cox put KTVU up for sale a few years ago, but at a price nowhere close to what anybody was going to pay for it?

-- Don

On that note, just on a whim I took a raw count of HD channels I now get.

33. + 5 premium channels (incl NFL) for a total of 38 on the system.

Out of the 33 I get, I did a quick scan to see how many where *actually* broadcasting in HD (and not SD pillarboxed, or "stretch-o-vision" crap).

21.

That INcludes 720 CSN (even though the game was NOT in HD last night... anyone figure out what the hell happened?) which doesn't broadcast 24/7 (more like 3/3)

I also included ESPN1 and 2, even though they were showing a mix of SD and HD, and CNN which was SD but with a HD stock ticker :rolleyes:

It also included CWB and Disney (or was it Family) that had actual HD shows on, which is extremely rare.

So, 21/33 in pretty much a "best case" scenario. (all networks had prime-time HD shows on, 706 wasn't in HD, neither was 704, and TNT and a couple other notorious strech-o-channels were doing their thing...):(

I think the original point was that Fox is looking to switch from KTVU (the way NBC "switched" from KRON, although in that case, they didn't go to a new station, but increased the coverage area of KNTV), and not that KTVU was looking to sell.

Didn't Cox put KTVU up for sale a few years ago, but at a price nowhere close to what anybody was going to pay for it?

-- Don
Ah, I see. Not sure about the Cox sale, but it's my impression that networks have been moving in the direction of dropping stations rather than buying them. I think NBC only owns about 10 or so, ABC even less? I believe CBS has the most O&Os, not sure of the number.

I can see the nets wanting to own the stations in the top 5, maybe 10, markets with the rest all being affiliates. That would fit with FOX looking at KTVU I suppose, SF being the No.6 DMA. With inflation/market adjusted dollars, I'll bet KTVU would fetch more than the $880mil that KRON did when it was sold/bought.

With alternate delivery methods on the rise, the method of getting the content to the viewer via a local station will see a decline in coming years, IMO anyway.

Re: KNTV, actually IIRC, at the time of the KRON/NBC negotiations, NBC decided to heck with Young and bought KNTV from Granite leaving Young holding the bag. I don't think NBC owned a station in this market before that. Been awhile though, so I could be mistaken.

Actually, I'm fairly certain that NBC didn't own a station here as I recall reading about KRON being one of the nation's oldest NBC network affiliations. Some sort of record for longevity or something, that's what made the purchase of KNTV so devastating to KRON/Young.

Tom, Just some thoughts about switching to Satellite:

In response to your question #3:

"(3. Is there any way around the STB problem with Satellite? I presume you are stuck having a STB in every location you want a satellite signal)."

I just switched to Dish (the HD only package). Their receiver- the VIP 722 drives one HDTV and one SDTV (theoretically you could split the sd output too). And is a very good receiver. might solve your problem.

IMHO

HD quality can be quite good to non existent. Their costumer service, so far, is worse than Comcast (I had comcast for about 10 years). If their HD only package fits your needs it is the cheapest way to get HD (other than OTA)...BUT for me I have to use OTA to get my locals in HD (and still can not get ABCHD) to supplement the HD only package.

The installer was able to mount my Dish to a vent (also called a stack) on the roof of my house. No one can see it (i.e., my wife). That being said I have a 10 foot mast on my chimney with a moderate sized antenna to get the locals HD ota which everyone can see.

I struggled with the decision to change but overall am about 80% satisfied with Dish. I was about 35% satisfied with cable (part of my dissatisfaction however is specific to Santa Cruz as we have limited HD and cable is not planning on adding more anytime soon).


finally I think (but have no hard evidence) that Dish is about to add (many?) more HD channels in the near future.

Good luck

I heard that KNTV had moved to a new clear QAM channel, so I went and did a new channel scan on my MyHD card and my Panasonic Plasma (TH-58PX60U) tuners. Not only did KNTV move, but there is now a problem with it on the Panny plasma. If you channel surf with the Ch+/Ch- buttons, KNTV will now show No Signal for 11-1 and 11-2. However, if you program the Favorites feature, it will tune directly to 11-1 (and probably 11-2, but I didn't try). If you look in the Manual Channel Programming screen, there is some funny business going on in there too. It shows D11 (or something similar) which it doesn't do for any other channel. The clear QAM channels with PSIP show their proper virtual channel numbers. That includes KTVU, KPIX, KGO, KQED, KNTV. KBCW has never had PSIP since it was added as far as I can tell. There is definitely something wacky with the KNTV PSIP on Comcast.

KGO and KQED are also duplicated on RF channels 110 and 117.

- Mike

I cannot say if your area is the same, but for my area ch11 has both physical and PSIP virtual mapped incarnations.

Physical ch 11.1, 11.2, 11.3 are AETV-HD/HGTV-HD/Starz-HD

Physical ch 92.3 is KNTV-HD (also virtual mapped to 11.1)

So when I ch+ to ch 11, my TV cycles first through the physical 11.1, which it can't display because it is encrypted, then next goes to virtual channel 11.1 (KNTV-HD), which it can display.

If I tune directly to physical 92.3, then it will display KNTV right away.

If I tune to channel 11, the TV hunts for something it can display and ends up on virtual ch 11.1

I suspect the reason you think you are getting no signal is that is actually physical ch 11.1 which is encrypted. The D11 thing is probably the method used to denote a physical channel #.

That INcludes 720 CSN (even though the game was NOT in HD last night... anyone figure out what the hell happened?) which doesn't broadcast 24/7 (more like 3/3)

At the beginning of the game, they apologized and said they were having technical difficulties in Arizona and wouldn't be able to do the game in HD. I was impressed that they actually said something.

Now when a recorded program finishes and the delete / do not delete box comes up. I press delete (it does delete the program) but the box just stays on the screen until I hit the DVR button or exit or something else. This is something NEW and VERY ANNOYING. Anyone else having this new "FUN" glitch?

Thanks,

Blues96
Mountain View, CA

Now when a recorded program finishes and the delete / do not delete box comes up. I press delete (it does delete the program) but the box just stays on the screen until I hit the DVR button or exit or something else. This is something NEW and VERY ANNOYING. Anyone else having this new "FUN" glitch?

Thanks,

Blues96
Mountain View, CA

what your model, s/w version, and firmware version? Wondering if something is out of date on your system. Try unplugging the box and plugging it back in. If that doesn't work, I'd suggest requesting a new set top box. I highly doubt it's a system wide issue.

I cannot say if your area is the same, but for my area ch11 has both physical and PSIP virtual mapped incarnations.

Physical ch 11.1, 11.2, 11.3 are AETV-HD/HGTV-HD/Starz-HD

Physical ch 92.3 is KNTV-HD (also virtual mapped to 11.1)

So when I ch+ to ch 11, my TV cycles first through the physical 11.1, which it can't display because it is encrypted, then next goes to virtual channel 11.1 (KNTV-HD), which it can display.

If I tune directly to physical 92.3, then it will display KNTV right away.

If I tune to channel 11, the TV hunts for something it can display and ends up on virtual ch 11.1

I suspect the reason you think you are getting no signal is that is actually physical ch 11.1 which is encrypted. The D11 thing is probably the method used to denote a physical channel #.OK, I looked at things a little more. I recorded the full QAM stream with MyHD on RF 92 which contains KNTV-HD, KNTV W+, KBCW-HD and looked at it with TSReader Lite. I must say everything looks good. The output is here (http://hoetron.com/hdtv/ComcastTSR92.jpg) if you're interested. Contrary to what I said above, KBCW does have very complete PSIP information. The 7 minute clip I recorded even had the full guide data from the live time through 7:30am the next morning.

I suspect that sfhub is correct and there is a set of encrypted channels on RF 11. The bad thing is that the Panny can't properly differentiate the virtual 11-1 from the RF 11 that it has also labeled 11-1. When I tried to remove the bogus 11-1 and 11-2, it erroneously removed the good ones. Going back into the channel programming screen revealed that it had swapped the Yes/No selections between the two pairs of 11-1 and 11-2 entries. If you leave all the 11-x channels in and you Ch+ from Analog 10, you then get KNTV-HD, then you get the "Channel Not Available" but the OSD still says 11-1 KNTV-HD.

If I was actually using live QAM regularly on the plasma, I would contact Panasonic. As it is, I'm almost always using the S3 Tivo to watch TV so it's not worth the trouble.

- Mike

Quick question. I live in Berkeley and am still not receiving the 3 new HD channels added last week. Is anyone else having this problem?

The channels show up in my Tivo guide with my Series 3 but when I switch to them nothing shows up. I contacted Comcast and they said I should be receiving them. I also tried reseting my Tivo but that didn't work. I'm not having trouble with any other channel.

After four years of asking Comcast about system upgrades, it appears a new network is coming to San Lorenzo. According to a flyer I just received, the target dates will be June 16 - July 16. My wife called today and said an army of Comcast trucks has descended into our small town to prep for the upgrade. I guess it’s better late then never, I’m just bummed I’ve missed the NBA playoff games in HD shown on TBS so far.

We should receive all the current HD and SD channels available after the upgrade with On Demand going live 30-days later. At least, I will no longer have to explain to my son why he can’t watch SpongeBob using On Demand--like he does at his grandmother’s house.

We’ll see how this goes.

That's good news. In Aptos (actually Rio Del Mar) we have on demand, and some HD, but nowhere near the number of channels that the rest of the area receives. Not sure if it is a system capacity issue, or a headend issue, or whatever. It's interesting that we get on demand, including HD, but less than half the number of HD channels.
Mike

After four years of asking Comcast about system upgrades, it appears a new network is coming to San Lorenzo. According to a flyer I just received, the target dates will be June 16 - July 16. My wife called today and said an army of Comcast trucks has descended into our small town to prep for the upgrade. I guess it’s better late then never, I’m just bummed I’ve missed the NBA playoff games in HD shown on TBS so far.

We should receive all the current HD and SD channels available after the upgrade with On Demand going live 30-days later. At least, I will no longer have to explain to my son why he can’t watch SpongeBob using On Demand--like he does at his grandmother’s house.

We’ll see how this goes.

Mikeaymar,

I think D-Real was referring to the San Lorenzo (Township?) just outside of Hayward and not the San Lorenzo (Valley) in Santa Cruz County(?)

In either case, I was recently told by the Santa Cruz headend that the Aptos and Rio Del Mar, CA areas are at 750 Mhz. And, that the reason why we have so little HD here is related to issues with the FCC and county politics?????????? I have no idea what he meant and i was in a hurry so I did not question him. He was certain that there are no plans to upgrade this area (because we are at 750 already) and that there are no additional HD additions planned in the foreseeable future (this was the last straw for me and I went to satellite).

Any one know anything different (I still have 1 year and 10 months on my satellite contract so I am not in a hurry)?

D-Real
Thanks. Your observation seems correct, since we have on demand in Aptos, which implies higher bandwidth. The counter tech in Scotts Valley told me yesterday when I was returning a DVR that they do plan on adding more HD to our system later this year. We'll see.....
Mike

Mikeaymar,

I think D-Real was referring to the San Lorenzo (Township?) just outside of Hayward and not the San Lorenzo (Valley) in Santa Cruz County(?)

In either case, I was recently told by the Santa Cruz headend that the Aptos and Rio Del Mar, CA areas are at 750 Mhz. And, that the reason why we have so little HD here is related to issues with the FCC and county politics?????????? I have no idea what he meant and i was in a hurry so I did not question him. He was certain that there are no plans to upgrade this area (because we are at 750 already) and that there are no additional HD additions planned in the foreseeable future (this was the last straw for me and I went to satellite).

Any one know anything different (I still have 1 year and 10 months on my satellite contract so I am not in a hurry)?

I wonder if the Santa Cruz area is one of the systems in CA Comcast is looking to sell. I'll bet anything north of Windsor, or Healdsburg, is a potential candidate.

http://www.siliconvalley.com/latestheadlines/ci_9361579

Thanks for that link...interesting and it makes sense-given comcasts lack of effort to do much here. I will post this in the Monterey thread as well!

GBruno is correct, San Lorenzo, is a small-community next to Hayward not related to Santa Cruz.

Holy crap. I'm finally upgraded! I was flipping through all the HD channels, and I couldn't believe how many there were. I kept thinking that I had to be on the last one, and then there was another one. And another one. And another one.

Downside, they finally changed our analog channel lineup to match the rest of the bay area, so now I have to learn a bunch of channel numbers (assuming there's even anything left in analog I'll even watch). Comcast actually figured out a way to do this upgrade so that they would piss off more people than they made happy. The other downside is that our kitchen TV's QAM tuner seems to be having trouble finding most of the HD broadcast channels for some reason, but I'm sure I'll figure that out.

Anyways, watch for flying pigs.

Jason,

You were never going to be the last to get upgraded...they are saving that honor for Keenan ;)

Jason,

You were never going to be the last to get upgraded...they are saving that honor for Keenan ;)

Yup, my node will be the last one in the bay area to be lit up, it's an arrangement I have with Comcast so I can continue to complain and have a valid reason to do so. :D

One thing I haven't heard mentioned about upgraded Santa Rosa is that we have the digital/analog simulcast thing going on. It's nice to tune to an "analog" channel on the DVR and not get blasted by the volume change.

I'm in the south bay, Los Gatos with basic cable. All of my digital channels that I had (2.1, 5.1, etc.) are all gone for 2 days. Any idea what happened?

Did this ever get fixed? I'm in Saratoga (same (older) cable system) and this happened to me last week. 5-1 and 2-1 have come back but no KQED HD, no KNTV HD and no KGO HD any more.

One thing I haven't heard mentioned about upgraded Santa Rosa is that we have the digital/analog simulcast thing going on. It's nice to tune to an "analog" channel on the DVR and not get blasted by the volume change.

Where are you seeing these simulcast channels? Is there one for Comedy Central or TV20?

Yup, my node will be the last one in the bay area to be lit up, it's an arrangement I have with Comcast so I can continue to complain and have a valid reason to do so. :D

I thought mine would be, too (I'm also in Santa Rosa), but recently there've been Comcast trucks outside my house, and I got a flyer in the mail the other day saying the upgrade should happen for me within the next few weeks. Crossing my fingers that it does, so I can step up from the 8 HD channels I currently have. This can only be good news for you Keenan - the more areas they finish, the less for them to do before they do yours. Heh.

anyone else having issues with comcast hsi?
I called comcast but they are not able to attend me !
I even tried in Spanish but no luck either.
I'm in south San jose.

Where are you seeing these simulcast channels? Is there one for Comedy Central or TV20?

If you're using a Comcast box, it uses the digital channels automatically instead of the old analog versions. If you're using a QAM tuner built into your TV or something, you'll have to scan manually to find them. They're available for all analog channels, as far as I can tell.

anyone else having issues with comcast hsi?
I called comcast but they are not able to attend me !
I even tried in Spanish but no luck either.
I'm in south San jose.

I'm in South San Jose too.....
No problems here.

Anyone in the South Bay notice the Comcast PQ worse than before?
Anyone contemplating switching to DirecTV? or has switched?

I hear a lot of good things about DirecTV PQ and I'm thinking of making the switch.

Let me know your thoughts.

I switched about a month ago. the happiest day of my life. :)
well not really but it was mighty fun dropping comcast.
I have no complaints. the PQ is quite good. its not uncompressed
19mbps good but better then comcast is. I have noticed the occasional
quality degradation if there is a lot of rapid random motion all over
the screen. panning not so much. but say a flock of birds taking off.
nothing to complain about but noticeable.
my main downside was my STB from comcast I could record from
its firewire output to my computer. the box from directv has no
such feature. But I am working around that with a new converter
from hauppauge.

cost wise its about the same as I signed up for everything.
its possible to be somewhat cheaper then comcast but if you had
gone the "I want cheap cable or I will cancel" route it would be about
the same price.

and of course you dont get KQED in HD.

Anyone in the South Bay notice the Comcast PQ worse than before?
Anyone contemplating switching to DirecTV? or has switched?

I hear a lot of good things about DirecTV PQ and I'm thinking of making the switch.

Let me know your thoughts.

and of course you dont get KQED in HD.

Not to sidetrack the comcast discussion (but with MikeF5 still on protest mode it's awfully quiet).

But at least on my Dish DVR, I just slapped a little $10 Silver Sensor Indoor Antenna to the coax input on the DVR and get KQED-HT over the air just fine (and it's integrated in my Guide just like the Sat channels). In Saratoga it's a stretch to get the KQED Antenna in SF with the little indoor, but KTEH sends the same KQED-HD feed from their OTA site in the hills behind SJ and it's so strong the antenna is glowing ;)

Anyone in the South Bay notice the Comcast PQ worse than before?
Anyone contemplating switching to DirecTV? or has switched?

I hear a lot of good things about DirecTV PQ and I'm thinking of making the switch.

Let me know your thoughts.


Absolutely!!! It's the bandwidth multipacking. There's no question that Comcast has purposely degraded their HD PQ, which is inexcuseable to me.
I feel for these guys that are about to have their neighborhood systems upgraded only to be in for a rude shock when they start to see their new HD channels like this.

Yes, I am switching to D* as soon as it is practical for me, within the next few months.
I will not tolerate this from Comcast. I am surprised that any of us would.....

Not to sidetrack the comcast discussion (but with MikeF5 still on protest mode it's awfully quiet).

But at least on my Dish DVR, I just slapped a little $10 Silver Sensor Indoor Antenna to the coax input on the DVR and get KQED-HT over the air just fine (and it's integrated in my Guide just like the Sat channels). In Saratoga it's a stretch to get the KQED Antenna in SF with the little indoor, but KTEH sends the same KQED-HD feed from their OTA site in the hills behind SJ and it's so strong the antenna is glowing ;)

Hi Davisdog,

Just to be clear I never left on protest mode, I left on disgust mode :rolleyes:. I got tired of all the bitching and complaining without any constructive help ideas except from a few good posters ( Like you, Keenan and a few others ).

I had an opportunity to have a one on one session with Mr. Germano and his group and asked for ideas from the group to bring up to them but most of the responses that I got was that I would be wasting my time to try and get any substantial answers from them, so I decided to stop wasting my time all together ( My blood pressure has gone down to almost normal now :p ).

I still communicate with Mr. J. and still monitor this group from time to time but most of my time is now devoted to the Tivo community forum. I still think Comcast should buy Tivo and use their boxes for their cable system and get rid of those flakey Motorola boxes but only if they keep their hands off Tivo and let them do what they do best and let Comcast do what they do best ( I'll let you all decide what they do best :p ).

Here's my humble advice to the group.

Cable isn't for everyone, some people love it, some don't. But if it really bothers you or doesn't fit your needs then leave and go with the provider that you think will fit your needs. You have no contract with cable so you can leave at any time and as a matter of fact you can always come back if you find out it's not better somewhere else.

Cable now fits my needs, except for the high cost but that's something I can deal with. If I were to leave cable I'd go with Dish but that's not going to happen. I've seen/heard about some of the things coming down the line for cable, that's what holds me here. I think next year will be a good year for cable ;).

Laters,
Mikef5

I still communicate with Mr. J. and still monitor this group from time to time but most of my time is now devoted to the Tivo community forum. I still think Comcast should buy Tivo and use their boxes for their cable system and get rid of those flakey Motorola boxes but only if they keep their hands off Tivo and let them do what they do best and let Comcast do what they do best ( I'll let you all decide what they do best :p ).

The main reason why I started using Comcast was because I purchased the Series3. I haven't been too disappointed with Comcast except the high pricing.

Only thing left on my wish list right now is that the TiVo Series3/HD boxes support on-demand....hopefully their SDV adapter will lead to supporting this....who knows.

Glad to see you still check here once in awhile. I always look forward to your updates about new HD channels :D

and of course you dont get KQED in HD.

You will, when this last bird that went up becomes operational, a month, 6 weeks maybe, expect to see KQED-HD on DirecTV. I think they're also going to carry a national PBS-HD feed.

......I've seen/heard about some of the things coming down the line for cable, that's what holds me here. I think next year will be a good year for cable ;).

Hi Mikef5,

I'm probably not one of your "few good posters" since I've been bitching about PQ lately, but I would like to ask you about this. I know you can't go into specific details, but based on your quote above, might some of those things be improving the HD PQ by any chance? This would help me greatly with my decision to leave Comcast now or not. Thanks!

Only thing left on my wish list right now is that the TiVo Series3/HD boxes support on-demand....hopefully their SDV adapter will lead to supporting this....who knows.
It won't. Cable refuses to give access to on-demand outside of an OCAP/Tru2way environment.

We're near Cox and Miller, and those channels are coming in fine, but still no CNNHD after the upgrade...

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/4397/cabletvhk3.jpg

Did this ever get fixed? I'm in Saratoga (same (older) cable system) and this happened to me last week. 5-1 and 2-1 have come back but no KQED HD, no KNTV HD and no KGO HD any more.

We're near Cox and Miller, and those channels are coming in fine, but still no CNNHD after the upgrade...

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/4397/cabletvhk3.jpg

Bergna,

Try punching in channel 759 and see if you get the channel. I see your using a Tivo and sometimes they are slow in updating the Tivo guide but the channel may be there it's just not showing up in the guide.

Laters,
Mikef5

I'm in Berkeley and still no Discovery Science HD, Family HD, or Disney HD two weeks after the upgrade. I keep calling Comcast and their only advice is to try resetting my Tivo. Guess what? It doesn't help. I think the fact that I receive every other HD channel without any problems and am only having problems with the 3 new channels leads me to believe the problem is somewhere on there end. Try telling that to them though...

On a similar note, I have a friend in the north bay who should be receiving HBO HD but for some reason it won't show up at his house. He's had about 5 technicians come out over the last year to try and diagnose the problem with no luck. At least Comcast is giving him a discount on his cable bill. If I don't receive these channels soon I'm going to ask for a discount or switch to DirectTV. Football season is coming up and Sunday Ticket is really tempting.

We're near Cox and Miller, and those channels are coming in fine, but still no CNNHD after the upgrade...

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/4397/cabletvhk3.jpg

Hi Mikef5,

I'm probably not one of your "few good posters" since I've been bitching about PQ lately, but I would like to ask you about this. I know you can't go into specific details, but based on your quote above, might some of those things be improving the HD PQ by any chance? This would help me greatly with my decision to leave Comcast now or not. Thanks!

MDS54,

You should bitch if something is bothering you or if you think something is wrong with your system and picture quality is very important and you should bitch about it, but it's not always Comcast's that is at fault. Sometimes it's a problem with a customers equipment or how it's hooked up. I'm not saying that's what's causing your picture problem but what I would do is get them to send out a tech and have them check out my hook up especially the cabling and splitters and have them test your signal coming into your house. If all that is good to go and there's nothing that they can do to fix your problem, then it's time to start looking for a provider that will give you the product that gives you what you're paying for and if that's a SatCo then so be it.

Right now a lot of the problems have to do with the "3-packing" of the signals, they are still adjusting the system and trying to get the right channels packed together so they don't affect picture quality and that takes time. When DirecTv and Dish started their mpeg-4 compression on their channels people screamed bloody murder about how they screwed up the picture quality and that went on for months, now they seem to have all those bugs worked out and people are for the most part pleased with it now. How long will it take Comcast to get this worked out.... not a clue. How long should you put up with it..... that's a personal choice.

As far as what I know about what's coming down the line, you're right I can't say but some of it's been discussed here in the forum already, it's just they don't know that it's coming sooner than they think it will. Will it help with the bandwidth problem... yes it will and it won't make some people happy.

Should you personally wait for it to happen.... I waited 4 years to get my area upgraded to what others have had all along so I guess it all depends on how masochistic you are ;)

Personally, I would weigh the pluses and minuses of all the providers and make my decision based on that, not on what may or may not happen with one provider. Like I said if cable didn't fit my needs I'd have switched to Dish along time ago but for the time being cable gives me what I want. I just wish they didn't move like the Slowski's and get these upgrades done and over with.

Laters,
Mikef5

I'm in Berkeley and still no Discovery Science HD, Family HD, or Disney HD two weeks after the upgrade.
Bring up your TiVo channel list (settings->channel->channel list). See if 756 is on the list. If it isn't there, then it isn't in your CableCARD channel map. Your TiVo won't be able to find the channel until it shows up on that list (in the channel map) Keep calling Comcast until you get someone who knows what is going on. Someone who can change configuration at the head-end is who you want. You might have to go through a superfluous house call to get to them.

Anyone in the South Bay notice the Comcast PQ worse than before?
Anyone contemplating switching to DirecTV? or has switched?
I'm waiting for my special "retention" pricing to end with Comcast in about a month. I'll probably make the switch shortly thereafter.

I'm also hoping that with the extra capacity of the new bird coming online, they'll finally add TV Japan. Actually, if they had it now, I would have already switched. (We also have a Slingbox hooked up to a DVR in Japan, so TV Japan may not be a deal killer.)

I switched about a month ago. the happiest day of my life. :)
<snip>
and of course you dont get KQED in HD.You can get a $59 add-on unit for the HR21 that has dual OTA tuners. Then, you'll not only get KQED-HD, you'll get all of the other digital local sub-channels not re-broadcast by DirecTV, and your locals will look better in general.

But at least on my Dish DVR, I just slapped a little $10 Silver Sensor Indoor Antenna to the coax input on the DVR and get KQED-HT over the air just fine (and it's integrated in my Guide just like the Sat channels). The DirecTV HR20 HD-DVR actually has TWO OTA tuners vs Dish's one, and the HR21 has an add-on module for the two OTA tuners. And, unlike Dish, DirecTV doesn't make you pay an extra $5 for local channels to get your OTA listings in the guide.

You will, when this last bird that went up becomes operational, a month, 6 weeks maybe, expect to see KQED-HD on DirecTV. I think they're also going to carry a national PBS-HD feed.That's good news. I hope they find room for TV Japan, as well. (They are the only carrier that doesn't carry it.) I would still use the OTA tuner module, though. I doubt if DirecTV will have all of the digital sub-channels, and their non-HD locals kinda look like crap, whereas digital OTA locals look outstanding.

MDS54,
As far as what I know about what's coming down the line, you're right I can't say but some of it's been discussed here in the forum already, it's just they don't know that it's coming sooner than they think it will. Will it help with the bandwidth problem... yes it will and it won't make some people happy.


Thanks Mikef5. As usual, your thoughts are always valuable!
Any chance that you could point us in the direction of the forum where this (quoted above) "might" be being discussed? ;)

Thanks Mikef5. As usual, your thoughts are always valuable!
Any chance that you could point us in the direction of the forum where this (quoted above) "might" be being discussed? ;)

I think we're going to have to guess...but both SDV and Analog removal have been discussed...both free up bandwidth and both will not make some people happy. I bet they're watching both the SDV trials and how customers react to Verizon/FIOS yanking tons of Analog (and replacing it with every HD channel known to man)...Wish we had FIOS ;)

ps..MikeF5, glad to see the blood pressure down, Keenan was worried you might not live to the day he finally gets upgraded...and pss I'm putting protest and disgust in the same category...When my kids get like that I just threaten to take away their Wii :eek: and that straightens them right up :cool: Just dont tell them I really wouldnt follow through on that that since I like the Wii as much as them ;)

Mikef5, thanks for the suggestion, but the Tivo menu does indentify ch 759 as CNNHD, but there's no signal there. I have several other channels that I should be getting but do not, like SCI-FI, FOOD, AMC-HD... from the feedback of others here, it seems like calling Comcast support won't solve anything.

Bergna,

Try punching in channel 759 and see if you get the channel. I see your using a Tivo and sometimes they are slow in updating the Tivo guide but the channel may be there it's just not showing up in the guide.

Laters,
Mikef5

Mikef5, thanks for the suggestion, but the Tivo menu does indentify ch 759 as CNNHD, but there's no signal there. I have several other channels that I should be getting but do not, like SCI-FI, FOOD, AMC-HD... from the feedback of others here, it seems like calling Comcast support won't solve anything.
Bergna,

Normally if you punch in a channel number on a Tivo it will say, channel not available, if there is no signal there. If it doesn't say any thing and just shows you a blank screen, then there's a signal there, it's just not authorized to show it, which seems to be the case in your situation since you are seeing the channels in the Tivo guide.

To me, that seems either you don't have a package that will give you those channels or they haven't provisioned your card properly. I would have them send a tech out with a Motorola box and have them see if that gets your channels, if it does, then it's a problem with the cable cards not being provisioned properly. Of course if you don't have the program package that would give you those channels then you would need to upgrade to a package that would. What package do you have ?? Is it a package that would give you those channels ??? It seems different areas have different requirements on what package is required to receive these new channels.

Laters,
Mikef5

Mikef5 - I have Expanded Basic, Digital Classic, and of course, HD. I'm supposed to get both ESPN & ESPN2 but only ESPN2 works. I don't regularly watch some of the channels that are missing from my lineup, so it's not a big deal to me, but Comcast sure doesn't seem to have their act together in their customer programming setup.

Seems that only the headend people or supervisors know for sure. The CSRs seem to work off the incorrect viewing lineup pamphlets that Comcast sends in the mail. I think this is a case as it is in many companies in underfunded IT with uncoordinated (and likely outdated) database systems. Sometime when you call a company and the CSR has to put you on hold it is because they have to go to another computer to look on another database because they can't see it on there own.

Seems that only the headend people or supervisors know for sure. The CSRs seem to work off the incorrect viewing lineup pamphlets that Comcast sends in the mail. I think this is a case as it is in many companies in underfunded IT with uncoordinated (and likely outdated) database systems. Sometime when you call a company and the CSR has to put you on hold it is because they have to go to another computer to look on another database because they can't see it on there own.

Yes, or they have to perform a procedure such as initiating service, make a billing change, etc to be able to "see" more information. I've called Comcast to change my service and the rep has said they have some special offers but he can't get to them, only the sales people can. I guess they can't be bothered to keep at least one person who handles sales available on the night shift. That sort of thing just wastes everyone's time. As you note though, Comcast is not alone in having this problem.

Not that I'm on Comcast now...but I remembered this link for those that can't get satisfaction from local customer support

www.comcastsupport.com/forms/contact/RickGermano

He's the head of Customer support and told the mercurynews
"The office of Rick Germano (www.comcastsupport.com/forms/contact/RickGermano) is something new. If you have a problem and it's not getting solved, please send it to me. Or if you have an idea and a question, you can send that. We've been real good at quick turnaround on responses."

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8747752?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

...good luck...

I guess they can't be bothered to keep at least one person who handles sales available on the night shift. That sort of thing just wastes everyone's time. As you note though, Comcast is not alone in having this problem.
At least you were getting someone who admitted they couldn't do something.

When I was trying to get a billing issue resolved I was getting routed to somewhere in Central or South America. These outsourced folks always promised they could fix my problem, but in reality they had almost no power, and instead were submitting some request that needed to be approved by a manager in the US, who inevitably closed the ticket without fixing the problem. I'd then have to call back again and go through the same routine.

I don't know if they are still using that outsourced system or not. I hope not.

You'd think that a company that is also an ISP would have their databases coordinated and the needs of their CSRs covered. But the company that admitted to me they have uncoordinated databases or ones they had to access by going to another computer was also an ISP. :D

What bothers me is the lack of consistency. When I first called about moving from the 6/384 HSI to 8/768 HSI service I was told the rate would be around $67 a month. This was during the day and she had my account up so she knew I also had cable TV service. I told her to forget it, that it was too expensive.

I then called around midnight, as in the past I've found that the folks you get then seem far more knowledgeable, even if they can't always actually perform the action you want. That's when I found out that I could get the 8/768 for $52 a month, and, that when the 16/2 service was available it would still be $52 a month.

Armed with that knowledge, I called back during the day, since the night shift - for some stupid/ridiculous reason - can't initiate a sale/service change, and told the CSR what I wanted and how much I was told it would cost. No problems, and 5 mins later I had verified that I was getting 8/768 HSI service.

Now, the question that came to my mind was, does Comcast consciously prey on the uninformed, hoping that because they don't know any better that they'll be able to extract more money from them? A sort of used car sales atmosphere? Or, are they just simply ill-informed and untrained?

I don't have much doubt that it's probably a combination of both, and the fact that this protocol probably does exist, is another reason why you get so many different answers/prices for the same product, and why, a typical CSR can seem so clueless - who wouldn't be in that environment?

Add: they are not paid enough to care. That's what I kept reading on the job blogs from Comcast employees. The other day I was at a major department store interested in an AC unit. The sign said ask a "range salesperson for help." No one was around at all. As I was walking out there they were gathered around a TV and watching a boxing match. IOW, they don't get paid enough and they're not getting commission either so why care, just look busy when the boss is around.

Since the 2/17/09 all digital conversion will be around before we know it, I have one particular thing on my mind. I'm assuming ADS is what Comcast is doing to ease the transition, so effectively by 2/17/09, all channels will effectively be "ADS" but without the analog counterpart, right? Currently, since Comcast is either encrypting or not publicly advertising the PSIP info for these ADS channels, for us with in the clear QAM tuners, we have to manually scan and look for these ADS channels. Even though every TV of mine has a QAM tuner, I for one, hate doing that. Therefore, even though there are many ADS local broadcast channels in the clear, I still opt to watch the analog versions of them since I know those channel numbers will not change, and if they did, they were publicly advertised. Ok, my question is, by the time 2/17/09 rolls around, and all these analog channels are shutdown, will Comcast advertise all the PSIP info for these ADS channels so people with in the clear QAM tuners will not have to go and hunt and scan for them manually (like we do now)? I know one way to get around this is to get one of their cable boxes which map all the "channels" to known channel numbers, but if that's the case, what's the point of having a QAM tuner? I'd still like to stay away from a cable box if possible.

Also, my discussion above is based on what I know of PSIP, ADS and QAM, if I've made some incorrect assumptions, please let me know too, thanks!

The analog shutdown has to do with the Over the Air Signals coming from the TV Stations (ie if you have an antenna). It really doesnt have anything to do with Comcast or any cable/Satellite provider (they can do what they want as far as providing Analog or Digital or whatever....)

The analog shutdown has to do with the Over the Air Signals coming from the TV Stations (ie if you have an antenna). It really doesnt have anything to do with Comcast or any cable/Satellite provider (they can do what they want as far as providing Analog or Digital or whatever....)

:eek: I guess I missed a big piece of info up until now! Thanks for filling me in! With that said though, any more rumors, or maybe even facts, about how Comcast will handle the transition? I'm mainly interested in how we might better use our in the clear QAM tuners once the transition comes about.

Since I saw your post, I did some more digging around the forums and found some more posts regarding this, but if anyone has more links, to maybe even other sites/forums, for me to read up on, that would be great.

:eek: I guess I missed a big piece of info up until now! Thanks for filling me in! With that said though, any more rumors, or maybe even facts, about how Comcast will handle the transition? I'm mainly interested in how we might better use our in the clear QAM tuners once the transition comes about.

Since I saw your post, I did some more digging around the forums and found some more posts regarding this, but if anyone has more links, to maybe even other sites/forums, for me to read up on, that would be great.

I'm not sure what you mean by "how Comcast will handle the transition". As davisdog said, there is absolutely no link between the '09 switchover and Comcast so I'm not sure what "rumors" or "facts" you're looking for. Comcast has already stated they will continue to offer basic channels in analog form for at least an additional 3 years. But again, that has nothing to do with the analog swithover. Comcast tomorrow could put all their channels on the digital spectrum if they wanted to (like DBS does and always has).

I'm not sure what you mean by "how Comcast will handle the transition". As davisdog said, there is absolutely no link between the '09 switchover and Comcast so I'm not sure what "rumors" or "facts" you're looking for. Comcast has already stated they will continue to offer basic channels in analog form for at least an additional 3 years. But again, that has nothing to do with the analog swithover. Comcast tomorrow could put all their channels on the digital spectrum if they wanted to (like DBS does and always has).
I guess I'm more or less interested whether or not our in the clear QAM tuners will be more useful after the transition. Like right now, the QAM tuner is great for the broadcast channels (FOX, NBC, CBS, etc), namely for the HD contnent.... and most of the time, the PSIP info on them doesn't change (at least in my area) but every now and then it does and I have to hunt for a channel all over again. With the digital transition, will they make this any easier to keep track of? Will other current in the clear ADS channels that may potentially become digital only be more stable in terms of less changes in their PSIP info? Will some of the current in the clear ADS channels become digital only and encrypted on top of that? So to sum it up will in the clear QAM tuners potentially be more useful for Comcast cable subscribers after 2/17/09 (edit oops, I meant 09) aside from getting broadcast channel content?

Probably the wrong place for this, but would I be correct in assuming that if I'm having problems on one tuner on an S3 (signal strength randomly bouncing between 0-60, SNR bouncing a bit too) on only two channels on the same frequency (TBS/ESPN at 747 MHz) with the other tuner being perfectly happy and stable on those channels, I should probably just get a new CableCard rather than blaming Comcast for the root of all my evils?

So to sum it up will in the clear QAM tuners potentially be more useful for Comcast cable subscribers after 2/17/09 (edit oops, I meant 09) aside from getting broadcast channel content?NO! (Once more, with feeling) there will be no "transition" on cable. Nothing is going to change on 2/17/09, that is at least Comcast is under no obligation to do anything, to turn off analog channels, or to provide proper PSIP for the QAM ADS channels (most of which are encrypted anyway).

My advice if you want digital cable is to use a cable box or cablecard (ie Tivo) period. Clear QAM tuners are generally a lot of hassle, since they don't always have proper ID and they change frequencies at the drop of a hat.

Clear QAM tuners are generally a lot of hassle, since they don't always have proper ID and they change frequencies at the drop of a hat.
So is the general consensus that clear QAM tuners are pretty much useless, except for maybe local broadcast channels? And even then, it might be useless because 1) of the random frequency changes and 2) they might eventually be encrypted anyway when/if all analog channels get dropped from Comcast. I've been reading other threads regarding similar thoughts, but none have given even remotely definite answers to the usefulness of in the clear QAM tuners. Cablecards are brought up a lot, but I'm not putting my hopes into those, especially since most TVs don't even have them. I just want to get the most out of my HDTVs without having to have a STB connected to each one in every single room of my house. But it sounds like that might not be possible.

I think there's a FCC rule about HD Local Broadcast Channels on cable. I believe that they must be carried in the clear. To me, that's the only use for clear QAM tuners. When the channels have PSIP, they're very easy to use because even if they do move, a re-scan will find them with the proper virtual channel number. The Comcast Santa Clara head end provides PSIP on (almost) all the local HD broadcast channels.

- Mike

I think there's a FCC rule about HD Local Broadcast Channels on cable. I believe that they must be carried in the clear. To me, that's the only use for clear QAM tuners. When the channels have PSIP, they're very easy to use because even if they do move, a re-scan will find them with the proper virtual channel number. The Comcast Santa Clara head end provides PSIP on (almost) all the local HD broadcast channels.

- Mike
I don't believe there's ever been a definitive ruling on that. Many interpret it as you have above, but there are cable systems that do charge for local HD and they apparently are not in violation of any FCC reg in doing so.

Whoa, no wonder we can't get good customer service. ;)

The bigger question is, how come the Giants still suck? :p:D

Mystery Solved? Comcast Probably Paid $100M to SF Giants
http://www.multichannel.com/blog/100000410/post/1840025984.html?nid=4160

i'm in los gatos and blast is now available. called comcast to upgrade and they want another $12 bucks a month on top of the $57 we're already paying them for high speed internet.

i thought blast was going to be provided without any additional charges to all existing internet subs when the service became available in their area. now i have to pay even more to comcast. not interested in giving any more $ to greedy comcast. heck, they're already ripping us off for the cost of their internet service.

i just wish we had some choice in high speed internet providers. comcast has a monopoly here. why verizon won't introduce fios here in their local phone service area is beyond me.

I hope Comcast brings Travel Channel HD to the Bay Area.

http://www.travelchannel.com/static_files/tc/files/trv/hd/html/hd.html

When did Travel Channel start broadcasting in HD?

i'm in los gatos and blast is now available. called comcast to upgrade and they want another $12 bucks a month on top of the $57 we're already paying them for high speed internet.

i thought blast was going to be provided without any additional charges to all existing internet subs when the service became available in their area. now i have to pay even more to comcast. not interested in giving any more $ to greedy comcast. heck, they're already ripping us off for the cost of their internet service.

i just wish we had some choice in high speed internet providers. comcast has a monopoly here. why verizon won't introduce fios here in their local phone service area is beyond me.

Blast is free if you are already on the 8Mbps DL tier.

i'm in los gatos and blast is now available. called comcast to upgrade and they want another $12 bucks a month on top of the $57 we're already paying them for high speed internet.

i thought blast was going to be provided without any additional charges to all existing internet subs when the service became available in their area. now i have to pay even more to comcast. not interested in giving any more $ to greedy comcast. heck, they're already ripping us off for the cost of their internet service.

i just wish we had some choice in high speed internet providers. comcast has a monopoly here. why verizon won't introduce fios here in their local phone service area is beyond me.

That's what I was told when I went from 6/384 to 8/768, in fact, I was told the upgrade would be automatic and the price would stay the same, no call to upgrade needed. A case of CSR cluelessness again? Nah, not at Comcast.:rolleyes:

Blast is free if you are already on the 8Mbps DL tier.

If he's already paying $57 shouldn't he already be at 8mb/s?

Maybe he doesn't have cable TV service with Comcast, that would explain it.

Whoa, no wonder we can't get good customer service. ;)

The bigger question is, how come the Giants still suck? :p:D

Mystery Solved? Comcast Probably Paid $100M to SF Giants
http://www.multichannel.com/blog/100000410/post/1840025984.html?nid=4160

Giants suck :confused: ????
Let's see, they're 2 games out of 2nd place, when most people ( myself included :eek:) thought they might win at most 2 or 3 games without Bonds in the lineup.
Your Dodger blue is showing through Jim :p:D

Maybe Comcast could throw a few bones to the A's. Now that's a real crime. A great team that can't afford to keep their players because of no fan support. Ergo, no money to keep them there. Bring them to the South Bay where the money is. Heck, I would go to their games if they moved the team to Fremont. ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Hahaha...all it takes is to bring up the Giants to bring Mike back. ;)

I agree about the A's...send them down to the south bay where they can get a fan base. As long as they're within driving distance, I don't care where they are.

Hahaha...all it takes is to bring up the Giants to bring Mike back. ;)

I agree about the A's...send them down to the south bay where they can get a fan base. As long as they're within driving distance, I don't care where they are.

You can bad mouth Comcast all you want but not the Giants :p ( Just kidding Mr. J. ) :p;)
I had a friend give me some field level tickets for the Padre's game, right behind home plate. I'd never been that close to the field, what a difference. I'd love to have season tickets there, great view of the action, to bad the Giants lost the game though :( but they're doing better than I thought they would.

Laters,
Mikef5

giants are awesome. lincecum is a stud and zito doesn't stink half as bad as he did earlier.

Maybe Comcast could throw a few bones to the A's. Now that's a real crime. A great team that can't afford to keep their players because of no fan support. Ergo, no money to keep them there. Bring them to the South Bay where the money is. Heck, I would go to their games if they moved the team to Fremont. ;)

I've been attending many of the game for both teams, and I have to say it's getting a bit dire attendance wise for the A's, they didn't sell out any of the Boston, Anaheim games, and they only drew 26,000 for tonight's Yankees game.

The Colisium is really hurting their rep for attendence... Then again, the A's are more of a blue-collar team, and the state of the economy is probably not helping either.

I still can't believe they didn't sell out a Yankee game.

fitprod

Also, my discussion above is based on what I know of PSIP, ADS and QAM, if I've made some incorrect assumptions, please let me know too, thanks!
Cable is not required to create PSIP. They are only required to pass through PSIP with appropriate modifications.

You will unlikely ever get the same ease-of-use functionality out of clear QAM as you have had with your analog cable-ready system. As things currently stand, you won't be getting expanded basic because those channels will be encrypted. You won't be getting PSIP for ADS channels because they didn't have it to start with.

Whoa, no wonder we can't get good customer service. ;)

The bigger question is, how come the Giants still suck? :p:D

Mystery Solved? Comcast Probably Paid $100M to SF Giants
http://www.multichannel.com/blog/100000410/post/1840025984.html?nid=4160

I just hope this doesn't mean Comcast tries to make CSN an exclusive channel.

That's apparently happening in other cities where the local sports channel is only on cable.

I don't believe there's ever been a definitive ruling on that. Many interpret it as you have above, but there are cable systems that do charge for local HD and they apparently are not in violation of any FCC reg in doing so.
The rules basically say, if you carry broadcast locals, they must be in the basic tier. The rules then go on to say basic tier must not be encrypted.

References here:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4821799#post4821799

I guess they can try charging for it but you can politely decline to pay and enjoy the unecrypted channels you are already paying for in the basic tier that customers must pay for before they can get any other package.

With the digital transition, will they make this any easier to keep track of? Will other current in the clear ADS channels that may potentially become digital only be more stable in terms of less changes in their PSIP info? Will some of the current in the clear ADS channels become digital only and encrypted on top of that? So to sum it up will in the clear QAM tuners potentially be more useful for Comcast cable subscribers after 2/17/09 (edit oops, I meant 09) aside from getting broadcast channel content?
Could they? Yes.

Will they? Most likely no.

What you can expect is what you have today. HD locals in the clear with PSIP passthrough. PSIP for ADS, unlikely. Encrypted channels switching to in the clear, unlikely.

Things can always change in the future, but that is what you can expect today.

Giants suck :confused: ????
Let's see, they're 2 games out of 2nd place, when most people ( myself included :eek:) thought they might win at most 2 or 3 games without Bonds in the lineup.
Your Dodger blue is showing through Jim :p:D

Maybe Comcast could throw a few bones to the A's. Now that's a real crime. A great team that can't afford to keep their players because of no fan support. Ergo, no money to keep them there. Bring them to the South Bay where the money is. Heck, I would go to their games if they moved the team to Fremont. ;)

Laters,
Mikef5Unfortunately, it's the Giants that keep that from happening. For some weird reason, we're part of Giants territory. And, Giants ownership knows that most of the baseball fans in the South Bay have moved here from elsewhere, and have no allegiance to any local team other than the one that's easier to get to. Sure, the American League plays an inferior brand of baseball with their candyass DH. But, I'd rather drive 10 minutes than an hour.

BTW, I thought the A's/Fremont thing was a done deal?

The rules basically say, if you carry broadcast locals, they must be in the basic tier. The rules then go on to say basic tier must not be encrypted.

References here:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4821799#post4821799

I guess they can try charging for it but you can politely decline to pay and enjoy the unecrypted channels you are already paying for in the basic tier that customers must pay for before they can get any other package.

This is the part I was referring to:
Notes: The FCC has specifically affirmed that any must-carry digital stations must be on an unencrypted basic tier. They have also generally affirmed that this would seem to apply to non must-carry stations as well, but have not specifically ruled so.

I know some smaller cable systems back east encrypt and charge for local HD as a "premium" service. Comcast, apparently as a company-wide policy does not. I'm not sure what the carriage status is of our local stations, but if they're retrans, then I believe Comcast could charge if they wanted to.

Once there is only one signal, and if it's under a must-carry agreement, then they cannot be encrypted.

That's how I understand it, and in fact, is being done at some cablecos.

I just hope this doesn't mean Comcast tries to make CSN an exclusive channel.

That's apparently happening in other cities where the local sports channel is only on cable.

I don't see that happening at all. There's really only two RSNs that I'm aware of, San Diego's 4SD and Philadelphia's Comcast SpotsNet. Both of these RSNs have utilized the terrestrial loophole(don't have to offer station to sat) to keep these stations off the satcos. I think that loophole has been closed, but at least the Philly station received a "sweetheart" exemption from complying with the change in ruling. I'm not sure what the status is of 4SD, it seems to me some of their games have been on MLBEI this year, but I can't swear to that.

To the best of my knowledge, all other current RSNs are, or will, eventually be available on sat, CSNBA already is so the chances of it not being in the future are very slim.

Sure, the American League plays an inferior brand of baseball with their candyass DH.



And the SF Giants have won how many World Series??? :p:D

And the SF Giants have won how many World Series??? :p:D

Hey Gary is a Mets fan. They had a pretty good team back in '69!!! :D

OK, they won in '86 as well...........

Hey Gary is a Mets fan. They had a pretty good team back in '69!!! :D

OK, they won in '86 as well...........
My favorite series was '88, with the Dodger's Kirk Gibson practically using crutches, hits a pinch-hit walkoff HR off Eckersley, I can still remember how I felt when that happened, what a game.

Dodgers, of course, took the Series 4-2. :D

My favorite series was '88, with the Dodger's Kirk Gibson practically using crutches, hits a pinch-hit walkoff HR off Eckersley, I can still remember how I felt when that happened, what a game.

Dodgers, of course, took the Series 4-2. :D

Yeah, what a moment. I remember a few years back ESPN did a show on the greatest moments in sports history and this one was number 1. GO BLUE!

My favorite series was '88, with the Dodger's Kirk Gibson practically using crutches, hits a pinch-hit walkoff HR off Eckersley, I can still remember how I felt when that happened, what a game.

Dodgers, of course, took the Series 4-2. :D

FWIW, Dodgers won the series 4-1 :(.

FWIW, Dodgers won the series 4-1 :(.

eh..we won, that's all that matters. I do remember it was quite an upset though. :)

mmm, and how have the bums done in the playoffs lately? :D

In case anyone missed it - Comcast increasing HSI upload speeds:

http://www.comcast.com/About/PressRelease/PressReleaseDetail.ashx?PRID=765

So it appears that "regular" 6/384k will become 6/1M
it doesn't say what "Blast" will be though, only that "Plus", which was upgraded to "Blast" recently, went from 8/768k to 8/2M.
Blast is already 16/2 ? so it may stay the same or maybe increase to 16/3?

mmm, and how have the bums done in the playoffs lately? :D

In case anyone missed it - Comcast increasing HSI upload speeds:

http://www.comcast.com/About/PressRelease/PressReleaseDetail.ashx?PRID=765

So it appears that "regular" 6/384k will become 6/1M
it doesn't say what "Blast" will be though, only that "Plus", which was upgraded to "Blast" recently, went from 8/768k to 8/2M.
Blast is already 16/2 ? so it may stay the same or maybe increase to 16/3?

I was told that Blast is 20M/2M. I think PowerBoost is still working also.

mmm, and how have the bums done in the playoffs lately? :D
We don't need to talk about that.. :p

In case anyone missed it - Comcast increasing HSI upload speeds:

http://www.comcast.com/About/PressRelease/PressReleaseDetail.ashx?PRID=765

So it appears that "regular" 6/384k will become 6/1M
it doesn't say what "Blast" will be though, only that "Plus", which was upgraded to "Blast" recently, went from 8/768k to 8/2M.
Blast is already 16/2 ? so it may stay the same or maybe increase to 16/3?
Has this happened already, or when is it going to happen? I couldn't tell from the PR.

Don't know, could be already - will test it when I get home...

Blast should be sustained 16/1 or 16/2 (I think it's 2 in this area) - then with PowerBoost that may increase to 20+/3 briefly (for the first 10MB of files - 5MB for uploads).

update.. does not appear to have changed for me.

before reset modem = 7-9mb down, 1300-1500up
after reset = same

Don't know, could be already - will test it when I get home...

Blast should be sustained 16/1 or 16/2 (I think it's 2 in this area) - then with PowerBoost that may increase to 20+/3 briefly (for the first 10MB of files - 5MB for uploads).

update.. does not appear to have changed for me.

before reset modem = 7-9mb down, 1300-1500up
after reset = same

It looks like it's been changed here. I'm getting a sustained(limited to 1650) upload of 1600/1700 for over 12 hrs now. Although, when I upgraded to 8/768 from the 6/384 I never really tested any sustained speeds above 800. Plus, I haven't noticed my modem power cycling either.

I'm getting the best signal numbers I've ever had though:

SNR - 40.5dB
Power - 5.5dBmV
upload - 49.3dBmV

Now that AZN is kaput, why doesn't Comcast add ImaginAsian to the South Bay systems to take its place? It's already on Comcast's SF lineup.

Maybe Mike or whoever has their ear can mention it to them.

My favorite series was '88, with the Dodger's Kirk Gibson practically using crutches, hits a pinch-hit walkoff HR off Eckersley, I can still remember how I felt when that happened, what a game.

Dodgers, of course, took the Series 4-2. :D

Gotta chime in, since I was at that game. Never seen anything like it, before or since. After the cheering died down, people were looking at each other like it was surreal: "did that really happen?" My sister and her friend (A's fans) flew down from the Bay Area to attend the game; they were whooping and hollering for Eck . . . . until that last pitch.

Sorry. But, nothing NOTHING compares to game six of the '86 Series.

*ahem*

"shot heard round the world" mean anything to you?
:cool:

It looks like it's been changed here. I'm getting a sustained(limited to 1650) upload of 1600/1700 for over 12 hrs now. Although, when I upgraded to 8/768 from the 6/384 I never really tested any sustained speeds above 800. Plus, I haven't noticed my modem power cycling either.

if you have "plus" service (was 8/768) you should be automatically upgraded to "Blast" (16/2) if that's available in your area.. so no surprise if you get sustained 1600-1700. try it late at night, might get closer to 2000 even.

*ahem*

"shot heard round the world" mean anything to you?
:cool:



if you have "plus" service (was 8/768) you should be automatically upgraded to "Blast" (16/2) if that's available in your area.. so no surprise if you get sustained 1600-1700. try it late at night, might get closer to 2000 even.
We don't have Blast available in my node yet, and while playing with it last night I went as far as a sustained speed of 1800. I didn't play around with it any further but I'm sure it will go to 2000, the way it's running now, maybe even faster. :D

game 6 2002. That's what I'm talking about!!:D

game 6 2002. That's what I'm talking about!!:D

go away.

game 6 2002. That's what I'm talking about!!:D

Even former Dodgers turn to crap when they go to the Giants. :p

oh, a fan of the Disney(tm) Los Angeles California Angels of Anahiem Mouse Club. cute.

We don't have Blast available in my node yet, and while playing with it last night I went as far as a sustained speed of 1800. I didn't play around with it any further but I'm sure it will go to 2000, the way it's running now, maybe even faster. :D

well it looks like you are upgraded then (to the new UL speeds, maybe not "Blast" yet)

I'll have to run some sustained upload tests. I'm getting 1300-1500 on speedtest.dslreports but that's Powerboost, had that for awhile.

well it looks like you are upgraded then (to the new UL speeds, maybe not "Blast" yet)

I'll have to run some sustained upload tests. I'm getting 1300-1500 on speedtest.dslreports but that's Powerboost, had that for awhile.

Yes, I'm getting over 5 times the speed I was a month ago when I was still at 6/384. Haven't checked the modem to see if there was a config change but there must have been as I wasn't getting these speeds even at the 8/1 I upgraded to a few weeks ago.

Looks like I'm getting a solid 131kB/s (bit over 1M). I have the standard 6mb service.
Doesn't seem like we have Powerboost on uploads anymore either, it starts at 1M and stays there, which is ok I guess. Or maybe there is but it's hard to notice.

well actually, it's reading 131,000 bytes, so that's "128K" which would be exactly 1024K bits or 1 "mega" bit.

I just pushed it to about 260K and it held steady, I could still browse without any trouble as well.

It's odd that it seems to be working here, in a non-upgraded area, while it's not in your upgraded area.

I ain't complainin' though. :-D

I have regular 6/384(previously) service, so I think 1mb upload is what I'm supposed to get.
Comcast will nearly triple the upload speed of its 6 Mbps / 384 Kbps Performance tier to 6 Mbps / 1 Mbps and more than double the upload speed of its 8 Mbps / 768 Kbps Performance Plus tier to 8 Mbps / 2 Mbps.

I have regular 6/384(previously) service, so I think 1mb upload is what I'm supposed to get.

Right, I was overlooking that you had 6/384, so it is active where you're at. :)

Hi Everyone,

I tried watching recordings of Charlie Jade and Battlestar Galactica from SciFi HD Friday night, and they were both filled with a lot of picture and sound breakups and pixelezation, much worse than normal. They were basically unwatchable due to all the breakups happening every few seconds. It's a good thing I also recorded them both from the SD SciFi channel as well. Has anyone else noticed really bad signal problems with SciFi HD lately?

Thanks,
Jason

Hi Everyone,

I tried watching recordings of Charlie Jade and Battlestar Galactica from SciFi HD Friday night, and they were both filled with a lot of picture and sound breakups and pixelezation, much worse than normal. They were basically unwatchable due to all the breakups happening every few seconds. It's a good thing I also recorded them both from the SD SciFi channel as well. Has anyone else noticed really bad signal problems with SciFi HD lately?

Thanks,
Jason

Out in Union City BSG came in just fine for me. I had issues a month ago to what you described on a few channels including SciFi-HD, I had to get a comcast installer to come out to check the signals levels at my house. I pretty much run 1 SD set-top, 1 HD set-top, 2 TiVo HD DVR, and 1 TiVo Series3 (I guess maybe more than the average household...) but the installer had to change a few things to get the signals right coming to each individual box. Ever since that everything been ok.

If its consistent, I would have the installer come over and see the problem in person so they can troubleshoot the issue.

It looks like it's been changed here. I'm getting a sustained(limited to 1650) upload of 1600/1700 for over 12 hrs now. Although, when I upgraded to 8/768 from the 6/384 I never really tested any sustained speeds above 800. Plus, I haven't noticed my modem power cycling either.

I'm getting the best signal numbers I've ever had though:

SNR - 40.5dB
Power - 5.5dBmV
upload - 49.3dBmV

Did they just upgrade the node in your neighborhood? Because about two to three weeks before the upgrade occurred to the tv lineup, my internet became much faster and more reliable.

Did they just upgrade the node in your neighborhood? Because about two to three weeks before the upgrade occurred to the tv lineup, my internet became much faster and more reliable.

Funny you say that as I got the flyer the other day that says my node would be "live" about the first week of July. So it could be as you say, I didn't look closely at the numbers prior to upgrading the HSI service just recently, but I do know they were much worse a few months ago.

I hope it retains those good numbers when it's moved to the higher spectrum as it's still at 543MHz(up) and 220MHz(down) currently.

Out in Union City BSG came in just fine for me. I had issues a month ago to what you described on a few channels including SciFi-HD, I had to get a comcast installer to come out to check the signals levels at my house. I pretty much run 1 SD set-top, 1 HD set-top, 2 TiVo HD DVR, and 1 TiVo Series3 (I guess maybe more than the average household...) but the installer had to change a few things to get the signals right coming to each individual box. Ever since that everything been ok.

If its consistent, I would have the installer come over and see the problem in person so they can troubleshoot the issue.

Looks like the signal problems only occurred for me on Friday night. I made some test recordings on Saturday night and recorded BSG on Sunday night, and the recordings were ok.

Does anybody know if they downloaded new software in SJ? For months, my DCH would not display the program name in the progress bar when using trick play functions. (It would show "to be announced" or something.) Last night, I noticed the name was appearing again.

No posts in the last day and a half? What's going on here? I definitely can't believe that none of the cable geeks and nerds know if a fw update was pushed out.

I posted three weeks ago that our area was slated for an upgrade from June 16-July16 and last night Comcast finally delivered.

Overnight, our area has gone from nine to 35 HD channels, while our digital lineup has greatly expanded to include new digital channels like MTV2 and MTV Jams. The fun didn’t stop there as we also got On Demand service, which the flyer noted would go live 30-days after the initial upgrade. This was a huge surprise.

I didn’t see any PQ issues on the HD channels but did notice there’s a lot of up-conversion going on with stations like TBS, AMC, ABC Family and Animal Planet. Overall, I’m impressed with the new line-up and On Demand service.

I’ve been reading this board, emailing and calling Comcast and anyone else who could help for a long time and I’m just ecstatic that the upgrade has finally arrived. I’ll post more updates over the next few days as I flip through more channels and test out all the different features.

Lost four digital channels this week. I'm in Mountain View and comcast has changed 108.8, 93.13, 84.10 and one other channel. Now, all I get is a message that the channel cannot be decoded? Anybody know what's up with this?

Lost four digital channels this week. I'm in Mountain View and comcast has changed 108.8, 93.13, 84.10 and one other channel. Now, all I get is a message that the channel cannot be decoded? Anybody know what's up with this?

I came here checking on the same thing.. 119.8 used to be the Golf channel for me, and now it is something encrypted. I'm wondering if they just changed that, or moved it to a new location.


Does anyone have a channel mapping for Bay Area Comcast?

I came here checking on the same thing.. 119.8 used to be the Golf channel for me, and now it is something encrypted. I'm wondering if they just changed that, or moved it to a new location.

Does anyone have a channel mapping for Bay Area Comcast?
There is no universal channel mapping for the Bay Area. Every head-end is potentially different from the next though there are some commonalities.

Unless Golf Channel shows up in your limited basic list of channels, it is supposed to be encrypted. If it wasn't in the past it was an oversight.

Anyone else seeing improved network speeds?

I'm in Los Gatos with Blast and currently getting

(client-to-server [C2S]) . . . . . 2.99Mb/s
(server-to-client [S2C]) . . . . . . 31.05Mb/s

according to http://netspeed.stanford.edu/

I am in Milpitas and have consistently not been able to get TNT-HD. I select the channel and it will always say that it will be available shortly, but it does not come. Lately this has been happening with ESPN2HD as well. Does anyone know what the problem could be?

Thanks

This was happening with MHD for me for a month or so. I went and traded my old DCT for a DCH-3200 and the channel resolved correctly with the new box. Or it could have been a coincidence.

Everyone who's saying Comcast won't dump analog during the 2009 deadline may be wrong.

Comcast says it will drop its popular analog expanded basic service by year's end in about 20% of its markets. Other systems will follow through 2010. Analog customers affected by the change will have a choice:

Full Article (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2008-06-12-cable-digital_N.htm)

Nobody's saying they "won't" dump analog, just saying that the Congressional Mandate has nothing to do with Cable Companies and they arent obligated to do anything by any specific time.

Comcast's decision will be based on Marketing and $'s. If they switch to all digital they save huge amounts of bandwidth that they can use for other new services (More HD and other things)...but they also know they will lose some customers that like "Analog" because they dont have to use a STB on all their TVs (that extra Bedroom TV can get analog stations for free ;). If Comcast forces those people to use an STB on all TVs many will likely switch to Satellite (they didnt want satellite because they dont like STB's but this would equalize that advantage)...personnally I hope Comcast cuts Analog sooner rather than later....

Nobody's saying they "won't" dump analog, just saying that the Congressional Mandate has nothing to do with Cable Companies and they arent obligated to do anything by any specific time.

Comcast's decision will be based on Marketing and $'s. If they switch to all digital they save huge amounts of bandwidth that they can use for other new services (More HD and other things)...but they also know they will lose some customers that like "Analog" because they dont have to use a STB on all their TVs (that extra Bedroom TV can get analog stations for free ;). If Comcast forces those people to use an STB on all TVs many will likely switch to Satellite (they didnt want satellite because they dont like STB's but this would equalize that advantage)...personnally I hope Comcast cuts Analog sooner rather than later....

If Comcast were to cut the cost for these people currently with analog cable service, I don't think people would flock to satellite.

I was thinking about making the move but unfortunately your cable internet goes up like $14/mo. which kills any potential savings you might have had from switching from Comcast to DirecTV/Dish, and I'm not giving up BLAST (and hopefully sooner rather than later, Docsis 3.0 goodness)

FIOS is from Verizon Communications. GTE became a part of Verizon. Only a part of southern Santa Clara county is served by Verizon. The rest of the Bay Area is PacBell->SBC->at&t. Verizon only offers FIOS in the areas where it offers landline service. (Being careful to not confuse Verizon Communications with Verizon Wireless, which is a partnership between Verizon Communications and the European telecom company Vodafone.)

Does this mean that the 'rest of the Bay Area' has no chance of ever having FIOS?

Does this mean that the 'rest of the Bay Area' has no chance of ever having FIOS?
Extremely slim to virtually none.

Now, AT&T could get their head out of their arse and decide that, in fact, FTTH is the way to go instead of the half-measure they're doing now, but it seems very unlikely at this point.

The hope too is that DOCSIS 3 will negate most of the benefits of FiOS. At least that's the hope...