http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/01/08/financial/f113135S64.DTL&tsp=1

Hmmmmm....

When is this happening?
It was mentioned in the below article about the Comcast/DirecTV rate dispute.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15495582&highlight=#post15495582

Relative to Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, Chang claims that RSN not only wants the increase, but that it plans on shifting Oakland A’s Major League Baseball games and San Jose Sharks National Hockey League contests to Comcast SportsNet California, the RSN home to the NBA Sacramento Kings.

That may be the case for the NFL Network, but my concern was the NHL Network, which as far as i know is an NHL/Comcast joint venture.

You're right, I had the NFL Net on the mind for some reason.

The whole Versus/Golf/OLN/NHL-Net thing is a bit confusing to me, I'm not sure what's supposed to air on what channel. Throw in the possibility of the Sharks moving to CSNC and I don't know how anyone could know for certain where the games will be. :)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/01/08/financial/f113135S64.DTL&tsp=1

Hmmmmm....

Yup, while in theory the transition shouldn't affect cable TV systems, the fact that the major MSO's have already agreed to hold off on analog>digital conversions until March, pushing the OTA switch date even further out could mean those cable A>D conversions will be later too.

Given that Obama is the one asking for it this time I suspect there's a real strong possibility that it will get pushed back.

That 1GHz system of mine is lookin' mighty fine right 'bout now. :p:D

My Tivo starting showing some new channels in Petaluma last night. I haven't had a chance to to test them yet to see if they're active.

Golf
VS
Travel HD

Golf and VS split into 2 channels on Dec 1st, when MOJO was turned off. Though programming has been a bit.. unpredictable. TravelHD was turned on in other markets but not Petaluma, or was not when I disconnected my cable boxes (Dec 20th) maybe they finally added it?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/01/08/financial/f113135S64.DTL&tsp=1

Hmmmmm....

:rolleyes:

I say terminate that black out agreement and move forward.

/CES
//Hotel Internet here is SMOKIN
///It's an in room cable modem. Nice job Cox.

:rolleyes:

I say terminate that black out agreement and move forward.

/CES
//Hotel Internet here is SMOKIN
///It's an in room cable modem. Nice job Cox.

Dave,

I'm guessing you're at CES now ??? Anything exciting coming from Comcast that you've seen ??? I heard Panasonic was working on a portable DVR ( again ) only it will support HD this time.

This analog thing is really turning into a real " monkey fornicating a football " routine, they need to just do it and get it over with. You're going to piss off people no matter what you do so just do it already !!!

Hope you are having a good time at CES, take pictures...... :D

Laters,
Mikef5

So if local channels like KTVU stop broadcasting NTSC are they going to replace it with a digital SD channel? Or do they already? I know they provide cable (maybe satellite too) with a SD channel via other means (direct wire) but are they still going to do that after analog shutoff, or are cable/satcos going to have to down-convert their HDTV signal to SD?

Dave,

I'm guessing you're at CES now ??? Anything exciting coming from Comcast that you've seen ??? I heard Panasonic was working on a portable DVR ( again ) only it will support HD this time.


Hope you are having a good time at CES, take pictures...... :D

I don't see any C* presence per se, but word is that the big honchos are there, they always are.

I am interested in the 3rd party tru 2way boxes in general - have an answer for peeps that want more than company offers.

Today was south halls day. Mostly geeky stuff. I am noticing more and more set top video streaming boxes and home networking things that incorporate video distribution. Is average Americans ready for all that? Tomorrow I mean to seek out the latest Panasonic screens and more programming stuff.

Today's most awesome thingy IMHO was the Asus area. The eeePC tablet is way cool, I says as I'm using my eeePC 1000H.

It's definitely not old news; it's not really news at all yet. They're just in the talking stage. Nothing official yet.

Nothing official (heard about it on hfboards), but this really sucks.

First off, nobody knows how this will affect HD, as in the Sharks in HD on CSN.

Secondly, with Sharks riding high this year, ratings are way up. Any of that momentum will be totally lost by moving the Sharks to CSNCA. I suppose the only way this could be good if the Sharks move to CSNCA, and here in the Bay Area we get a CSNCA-HD channel (in addition to CSNBA-HD), and that all Sharks home games on CSNCA are also HD.

Even then, Comcast is still going to kill the Sharks ratings increase by putting them onto another channel.

I am noticing more and more set top video streaming boxes and home networking things that incorporate video distribution. Is average Americans ready for all that?I've been playing with these for a couple of years now and, IMO, it's more a case of "are these boxes ready for prime time yet?" The present crop is easier to set up and deal with than an HTPC, so they're more likely to be manageable by Joe&Jane 6pak. But they all still have unpardonable quirks, given their price levels, I think.

Perhaps within 2 more years? :rolleyes:

I've been playing with these for a couple of years now and, IMO, it's more a case of "are these boxes ready for prime time yet?" The present crop is easier to set up and deal with than an HTPC, so they're more likely to be manageable by Joe&Jane 6pak. But they all still have unpardonable quirks, given their price levels, I think.

Perhaps within 2 more years? :rolleyes:

I'm at CES, and while some of them are a little lame, like the Panasonic implementation (no wifi? - what gives with that), some like the Vizio are actually pretty good. Netflix streaming, etc... works great. Even SageTV now has Hulu up and running on there extenders (I think hulu is the best of these services).

Think of it like On-demand, except with out the ugly and hard to use 1980's style guide and menu system. Why anyone would pay $.99 to Comcast for a VoD showing of a recent TV episode they missed when you can get it for free via hulu on a connected TV platform, I can't understand.

A lot of the TV's have pretty capable Sigma chipsets in them that can decode almost anything. very cool.

I like Netflix on Tivo and think on-demand streaming over Internet is here to stay... nice to see even TVs including it.

I've been playing with these for a couple of years now and, IMO, it's more a case of "are these boxes ready for prime time yet?" The present crop is easier to set up and deal with than an HTPC, so they're more likely to be manageable by Joe&Jane 6pak. But they all still have unpardonable quirks, given their price levels, I think.

Perhaps within 2 more years? :rolleyes:That Roku Netflix player looks pretty easy to set up and use right now. My Slingboxes are a piece of cake. (My wife uses Sling way more than I do.) My Denon AV receiver has built-in home network and Internet audio streaming. And, the minute Dish releases the 922 Sling-enabled media streaming satellite DVR, I'll be dropping Comcast and jumping all over it like a fly on rice.

So if local channels like KTVU stop broadcasting NTSC are they going to replace it with a digital SD channel? Or do they already? I know they provide cable (maybe satellite too) with a SD channel via other means (direct wire) but are they still going to do that after analog shutoff, or are cable/satcos going to have to down-convert their HDTV signal to SD?Personally, I think the Cablecos need to add the sub-channels, as well.

Personally, I think the Cablecos need to add the sub-channels, as well.

They fought the FCC tooth and nail to avoid them imposing that as a requirement.

Don't know how many of you have looked into new channel 412, the MLB Network. Low def, of course, and not a lot of programming yet. But they did have a pretty cool broadcast of the entirety of Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, with Larsen and Yogi commenting together with Bob Costas.

Of course, whether or not you could see the broadcast will depend on the atmospheric conditions when you tune in. Here in Mill Valley (San Rafael head end, I believe), the wizards at Comcast have decided to load MLB Network at 99.0 MHz, sharing that frequency with the Big 10 Network (channel 403) and Palladia (HD music videos, channel 743). Those who follow this thread closely will recall that the Mill Valley transmission, at least, of those channels has been very sporadic. Some tech guru explained that it is leakage from a local FM station into the line. Whatever the reason, once again Comcast is not providing the service they are promising. (Let alone providing the new HD channels that aren't available here.) About 75% of the time, the channels are not available here.

I've started the process of getting DirecTV in. Once I go, I plan to make a demand for reimbursement of a share of my cable bill for the service Comcast has not provided. It probably won't go anywhere, but it will please me to be a thorn in their side. Everytime I see one of their commercials promoting "more HD" or "HD intervention", I just want to throw a brick through the TV at the fraud they are perpetrating.

MLB channel is in HD on DirecTV fyi...

It's also part of the basic packages, along with NHL, NFL, NBA, Big Ten, etc that Comcast charges extra for the "sports pack".

(The D* Sports pack is like, 40 regional sports nets, many in HD....)

I wonder if they will add CSN California to the basic tier for us if the A's & Sharks really move there (we already get CSN Bay Area of course).

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

Anyone know what changed?

And just as suddenly, English support is gone again his week. And we PAY for this?

Don't know how many of you have looked into new channel 412, the MLB Network. Low def, of course, and not a lot of programming yet. But they did have a pretty cool broadcast of the entirety of Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, with Larsen and Yogi commenting together with Bob Costas.

Of course, whether or not you could see the broadcast will depend on the atmospheric conditions when you tune in. Here in Mill Valley (San Rafael head end, I believe), the wizards at Comcast have decided to load MLB Network at 99.0 MHz, sharing that frequency with the Big 10 Network (channel 403) and Palladia (HD music videos, channel 743). Those who follow this thread closely will recall that the Mill Valley transmission, at least, of those channels has been very sporadic. Some tech guru explained that it is leakage from a local FM station into the line. Whatever the reason, once again Comcast is not providing the service they are promising. (Let alone providing the new HD channels that aren't available here.) About 75% of the time, the channels are not available here.

I've started the process of getting DirecTV in. Once I go, I plan to make a demand for reimbursement of a share of my cable bill for the service Comcast has not provided. It probably won't go anywhere, but it will please me to be a thorn in their side. Everytime I see one of their commercials promoting "more HD" or "HD intervention", I just want to throw a brick through the TV at the fraud they are perpetrating.

If it's not a cable issue in your house, you should find a leakage complaint with the FCC. The cable plant is upposed to be tight, and if the FM is getting in, it means the cable signal is also leaking out and interfering with FM reception as well. They have to fix it or be fined.

See here: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/cableleak.html

Thanks, MikeSM. It's definitely not a house problem--all the neighbors with Comcast have the same issue. And Comcast knows about it from my prior complaints and from their lame technological attempts to fix the problem. (These are among the very few channels to use QAM64 modulation (encryption?), which someone previously told me was an attempt to deal with the weak SNR on this frequency. (It fluctuates around 29 to 30 as opposed to 36 to 38 on the other frequencies.)

I'll file a complaint with the FCC if only to help the neighbors who won't be shifting to satellite. Although I'll certainly encourage them in that direction!

Has anyone else noticed the same problem. Last time when when I post the exact same issue on this thread ( couple of years back) someone from Comcast paid attention to that and fixed it very quickly. Hoping for that magic thing to happen this time too.

In watching the Fox NFL game now, it seemed that the pre game studio coverage was really not HD, while the game itself is. Anyone else notice this?

In watching the Fox NFL game now, it seemed that the pre game studio coverage was really not HD, while the game itself is. Anyone else notice this?

Fox does none of its pre-game shows in HD, just 480 widescreen.. It has always been that way.

Fox does none of its pre-game shows in HD, just 480 widescreen.. It has always been that way.

Thanks much. Glad to know that it wasn't my eyes (or my projector!)

Thanks, MikeSM. It's definitely not a house problem--all the neighbors with Comcast have the same issue. And Comcast knows about it from my prior complaints and from their lame technological attempts to fix the problem. (These are among the very few channels to use QAM64 modulation (encryption?), which someone previously told me was an attempt to deal with the weak SNR on this frequency. (It fluctuates around 29 to 30 as opposed to 36 to 38 on the other frequencies.)

I'll file a complaint with the FCC if only to help the neighbors who won't be shifting to satellite. Although I'll certainly encourage them in that direction!

Someone is sleeping on the job. If they think that dropping the modulation to 64 QAM will fix a big ingress problem, they are kidding themselves. They would never pass an FCC leakage test.

I have no idea if there's any way to know what kind of card you'll get. My cousin in Sunnyvale just got a Tivo HD for Christmas. He returned the old Moto digi-cable box and they gave him an M-card over the counter. He had a hell of a time getting the Tivo and CableCard to work. Many calls to Comcast, exchange on the Tivo box and a Comcast technician visit to get it all paired correctly and it finally did work correctly. This is the first time I've heard of Comcast giving any CableCards over the counter in the south bay, much less an M-card.

I have a TivoHD with an M-Card that I got over the counter. =P I had a Comcast HD box prior to the TivoHD and had soooo many problems with the card for that (initial installation took about 6 boxes and 8 cards, all with the same installer and about 3 hours of waiting around).

I then got a TivoHD, brought my old Comcast HD box in, and they gave me an M-Card right over the counter. This was at the Comcast office in Milpitas (Safeway plaza on Calaveras).

I got mine over the counter last year in Cupertino when I got my TivoHD.
When I got the my first Series 3 I had to do a truck roll. Things are a lot smoother now.
I was just able to call it in.

Does Comcast OnDemad work with Tivo? Comcast DVR has the worst menu system - I have ever seen!

Does Comcast OnDemad work with Tivo? Comcast DVR has the worst menu system - I have ever seen!
No. I for one wish it did, but (a) there is no way for the TiVo to send the necessary messages back to whatever drives the OnDemand software, abd (b) even if there was, there is no way for TiVo to differentiate between remote control signals meant for itself and ones meant for the OnDemand menu. Maybe the much rumored "Series 4 TiVo" (which is probably just vaporware at the moment, seeing as how there was nothing at CES) will solve this problem, but for now, you need a cable box (and the accompanying monthly charge) to access OnDemand.

Here's a thought: if somebody starts an OnDemand program in a given house, why can't Comcast figure out which CableCards are also connected in that house and broadcast that program on Channel 1?

-- Don

Does Comcast OnDemad work with Tivo? Comcast DVR has the worst menu system - I have ever seen!

No it doesn't, not yet anyhow, and maybe never.

No. I for one wish it did, but (a) there is no way for the TiVo to send the necessary messages back to whatever drives the OnDemand software, abd (b) even if there was, there is no way for TiVo to differentiate between remote control signals meant for itself and ones meant for the OnDemand menu. Maybe the much rumored "Series 4 TiVo" (which is probably just vaporware at the moment, seeing as how there was nothing at CES) will solve this problem, but for now, you need a cable box (and the accompanying monthly charge) to access OnDemand.

Here's a thought: if somebody starts an OnDemand program in a given house, why can't Comcast figure out which CableCards are also connected in that house and broadcast that program on Channel 1?

-- Don

Well, there is no channel 1 if you don't have the cable STB. When you select to watch an on demand program, like a movie, it can show up in a number of possible channels. For us, if we tune the QAM tuner (no cable card), we can pick up that program in one of those channels since the program is not encrypted. In fact, we can even watch programs that our neighbors ordered using their On Demand menu.

Anyone notice some sporadic red lines on the right third of the image last night on KPIX? They were very thin and went from top to bottom and flashed a few times before disappearing.

I also noticed what looks like a new KPIX bug? The "5" next to the 'eye", has that been there long? I don't recall seeing it before, and since those red lines look to be at the 4x3 safe border I wonder if it's related. I saw them during "The Mentalist" and "NCIS".

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/7636/sp3220090114124936sz6.jpg

I saw the same thing! Can't remember which show, but I'm pretty sure it was CBS.

Anyone notice some sporadic red lines on the right third of the image last night on KPIX? They were very thin and went from top to bottom and flashed a few times before disappearing.

I also noticed what looks like a new KPIX bug? The "5" next to the 'eye", has that been there long? I don't recall seeing it before, and since those red lines look to be at the 4x3 safe border I wonder if it's related. I saw them during "The Mentalist" and "NCIS".

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/7636/sp3220090114124936sz6.jpg

I noticed the same thing watching on "The Mentalist". Then I TiVo'd "Without a Trace" and watched it later noticed the same thing. Thought my new TiVo HD box was having problems. Whew at least it was on the network not the box.

John

We helped a neighbor today set up her new Sony Bravia HDTV. She has Comcast service and an HD Tivo box, but it won't tune to any of the HD channels on Comcast. If you try to tune to channel 707, for example, it says "Service not available for this channel." She has no idea what package she has, but she says she doesn't pay for HD. I thought many of the local HD channels were available on all Comcast packages without paying extra.

She does get HD through her TV tuner, but she wants to be able to record HD on her Tivo DVR. What does she need to do to get the local channels in HD through her Tivo box?

Thanks.

Larry
SF

We helped a neighbor today set up her new Sony Bravia HDTV. She has Comcast service and an HD Tivo box, but it won't tune to any of the HD channels on Comcast. If you try to tune to channel 707, for example, it says "Service not available for this channel." She has no idea what package she has, but she says she doesn't pay for HD. I thought many of the local HD channels were available on all Comcast packages without paying extra.

She does get HD through her TV tuner, but she wants to be able to record HD on her Tivo DVR. What does she need to do to get the local channels in HD through her Tivo box?

Thanks.

Larry
SF

What channels does she get with the TiVo? Does she have a guide? Is the TiVo a new addition? Has she signed up for the TiVo service?

She does get HD through her TV tuner, but she wants to be able to record HD on her Tivo DVR. What does she need to do to get the local channels in HD through her Tivo box?

If you scan for the channels, TiVo should pick up most of the local HD channels. To get the guide data, CableCard needs to be installed.

My Tivo starting showing some new channels in Petaluma last night. I haven't had a chance to to test them yet to see if they're active.

Golf
VS
Travel HDMy tivo reported these changes on 1/7 as well. But I still don't get travel hd. Is travel hd supposed to be available with digital starter, or is it a premium like ngc-hd?

Still waiting for word on bravo-hd, and the rest of the November channel additions for us lowly sub-1Ghz areas.

I noticed the same thing watching on "The Mentalist". Then I TiVo'd "Without a Trace" and watched it later noticed the same thing. Thought my new TiVo HD box was having problems. Whew at least it was on the network not the box.
John

Yep, I saw it on "Without A Trace" which I had recorded on the 3416. Then the picture seemed to "snap" and it was gone.

Yep, I saw it on "Without A Trace" which I had recorded on the 3416. Then the picture seemed to "snap" and it was gone.

I didn't see it on Criminal Minds tonight, so hopefully that "snap" last night was the fix.

Yep, I saw it on "Without A Trace" which I had recorded on the 3416. Then the picture seemed to "snap" and it was gone.

I also saw it on Without a Trace on my S3 Tivo. Thank goodness it wasn't just me. I was afraid my HDD was failing, or worse my plasma. Mine were red and blue.

If you scan for the channels, TiVo should pick up most of the local HD channels. To get the guide data, CableCard needs to be installed.
Cable Card is her problem. I called her and she said she doesn't have them. Whether she'll get them or not, I don't know. She says she pays enough for TV now.

Thanks for the info, Keenan and C3.

She does have the guide data and is a paying Tivo member, but the guide only shows SD channels.

Larry
SF

She says she pays enough for TV now.

There should not be any charge for the first CableCard, if she does not have any other Comcast box.

Here's a thought: if somebody starts an OnDemand program in a given house, why can't Comcast figure out which CableCards are also connected in that house and broadcast that program on Channel 1?
Well, there is no channel 1 if you don't have the cable STB. When you select to watch an on demand program, like a movie, it can show up in a number of possible channels. For us, if we tune the QAM tuner (no cable card), we can pick up that program in one of those channels since the program is not encrypted. In fact, we can even watch programs that our neighbors ordered using their On Demand menu.
Yes - in fact, pretty much every channel that shows up with a QAM tuner has a corresponding digital channel number. That's why I thought it might be possible for Comcast to figure out somehow which QAM channel was being used for a particular OnDemand program in progress and assign it to a digital channel within that house so TiVo can access it.

Then again, if I want to watch an OnDemand program on a TV without the box, why don't I just bypass the TiVo entirely and scan the QAM channels for it? (The last time I did it, it was on 101-2.) If I need to record it (assuming it's not in HD), that's why I have a DVD recorder connected to the set-top box.

-- Don

SfHub,

On another note. I'm waiting for the official word from Comcast about the recent channel additions ( or the lack of addition in some areas ). I know it's the holidays and a lot of people are on vacation. I just got back and I'm going to be leaving again to visit my brothers in Davis and Stockton but I can get my email from there so when I get the word to post I will... I haven't forgotten ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Any word on this in the last month?

What's the minimum package-type to get travel-hd? The channel lineup web page www.comcast.com/Customers/Clu/ChannelLineup.ashx doesn't give me correct information.

Digital Starter

Basic Cable...

DVR/programming heads-up for FNL fans......
The NBC season 3 opener is this Friday (1/16)! BUT, you may encounter DVR problems when setting a recording. Since it already aired on DTV, NBC is classifying it in programming guides as a "Repeat"! My 3416 won't accept it as a Series recording of new episodes only.

For the past two weeks since Damages has started up again, I've dutifully recorded it off FX-HD only to discover that the audio periodically cuts out, accompanied by video corruption. Anybody else having these problems? I haven't seen this on any other channels, and I haven't tried watching FX at any other time.

Digital StarterThat's what I have and I'm not getting the channel. Comcast CSR says it hasn't been added in my area due to bandwidth limitations. Ie I'm not gonna get it until they can free up more bandwidth (shed more analog channels presumably). Yet they added the channel to the tribune guide data for my area... This is the first time the channel has been added to the guide data before rollout, usually they don't get around to the guide data until a few days after the channel has been turned on.

Anyone else having problems with OnDemand at the moment? Last night I tried to watch some programs and got error messages. Today I called Comcast and they had me leave the box on to send some codes but it still didn't work. Called back again later and told them it still wasn't working and they said they would check to see if this was an area outage.

My TiVo HD added MLBHD to my lineup at Channel 742 the other night.

Is this channel actually live for anyone yet? I'm not subscribed to the Sports pack (NFL Network, etc.) anymore, which I'm assuming is required to actually get this channel.

I've seen that on FXHD several times (including Damages this week). I saw purple snow for a few seconds. I believe that it was just before a commercial break.

I just bought a 2008 Samsung HL67A750 moving from a 2005 Samsung HL-R5688. The blu-ray picture quality is outstanding on the new set and far and away better than on the old set. However, the Comcast SD and HD picture quality is much less sharp on the new set.

I'm thinking the biggest reason has to be a combination of increased picture size, 56" to 67", better performance out of the new set and Comcast's extreme video compression. Really, it must be the new set's ability to show a pristine picture from a pristine source that is its downfall when it comes to displaying compressed video signal from Comcast.

I have to say that am very disappointed with Comcast's HD picture quality on my new set especially after plunking down hard earned money.

1.Have any of you found a good alternative to Comcast in the East Bay/Brentwood area or am I just out of luck? i.e. DirectTV, Dish, AT&T

2.My new set is only four days old now so I haven't had it professionally calibrated it yet. Do you think this will make much difference?

3.Is OTA HD worth my time pursuing in the Brentwood area?

4.Which Comcast HD stations in the Brentwood area are (mostly or totally) uncompressed?

5.I've noticed that Comcast On Demand HD programing is much closer in sharpness and quality to my old HDTV. Is this simply because this is a streaming function?

Then again, if I want to watch an OnDemand program on a TV without the box, why don't I just bypass the TiVo entirely and scan the QAM channels for it? (The last time I did it, it was on 101-2.) If I need to record it (assuming it's not in HD), that's why I have a DVD recorder connected to the set-top box.
I got the impression the onDemand stuff doesn't necessarily stay on one sub-channel the entire time. I'm guessing when someone pauses or stops and restarts, the sub-channel or stream id could change.

I've seen that on FXHD several times (including Damages this week). I saw purple snow for a few seconds. I believe that it was just before a commercial break.

I wouldn't know about that. I only watched for a minute, and then stopped and downloaded a copy instead. Damages is too complex to be missing dialog.

Its not that simple. You would still need on demand menus. The box is used for 2 way communication to Comcast to start a specific movie/video. If you happen to tune into an existing subchannel stream of on Demand movie when scaning for channels, all you will get is a surprise movie. It's not the same thing as having scheduled movies you can actually expect by looking up on the guide.

Yes - in fact, pretty much every channel that shows up with a QAM tuner has a corresponding digital channel number. That's why I thought it might be possible for Comcast to figure out somehow which QAM channel was being used for a particular OnDemand program in progress and assign it to a digital channel within that house so TiVo can access it.

Then again, if I want to watch an OnDemand program on a TV without the box, why don't I just bypass the TiVo entirely and scan the QAM channels for it? (The last time I did it, it was on 101-2.) If I need to record it (assuming it's not in HD), that's why I have a DVD recorder connected to the set-top box.

-- Don

If it's not a cable issue in your house, you should find a leakage complaint with the FCC. The cable plant is supposed to be tight, and if the FM is getting in, it means the cable signal is also leaking out and interfering with FM reception as well. They have to fix it or be fined.

See here: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/cableleak.html

I wanted to let those who have followed the issue, and others who find they are having problems only with a limited subset of Comcast channels, the trick for getting Comcast's attention regarding a problem that is outside of the house--a "network problem" in their lingo.

To reset the problem, I had the inability to receive three channels:

403 Big10
412 MLB Network
743 Palladia-HD

All of which operated at 99 MHz. I had never been able to get the problem fixed, even though Comcast techs would acknowledge that it was a network problem and something that their network people would work on.

The day after I filed the FCC report suggested by MikeSM above, I got a call from a Comcast exec responsible for the North Bay. I'm not going to name names here, as (per my usual experience with the local Comcast folks) this gentleman and all the local techs were polite and very eager to help.

After a little bit of phone tag, I spoke live to the exec. I explained the problem and explained my conviction that the problems was not related to anything in my house. The Comcast folks are conditioned not to believe any such thing, even if you have the testimony of neighbors to the same problems and 3 or 4 prior truck rolls that turned up nothing. The exec agreed that it made a great deal of sense that the problem was created by leakage of the FM signal from a local station into the system due to a bad connection somewhere in the local line. He said this problem repeatedly occurs in Southern Marin and San Francisco in neighbors that are in close proximity to Sutro Tower. They had investigated the local network, though, which was "fine" other than some bad device in the local drop in Mill Valley. He asked if the signal had improved and, in fact, it had gone up from 28 to 30 SNR to more like 30 to 32. At the new level, I was able to get a picture 90% of the time on my cablecard TV and maybe 25% of the time on the Motorola DVR. But the exec said nothing further could be done unless they had another truck roll with a senior technician and a network technician.

So bright and early on Saturday two Comcast techs arrive. Of course, neither one seemed to have any idea about the problem except for that I wasn't getting some channels. So I had to walk through all the issues all over again. Privately, the house tech guy said that no one can ever convince a network tech that the problem is outside a house unless they see it with their own two eyes.

So the two techs both bring their fancy signal meters into the house, and back-and-forth test the line at the Motorola DVR. Their initial problem was that neither of them had the correct current channel map in their meters for San Rafael. They couldn't find a channel that was SUPPOSED to be broadcast at 99 MHz. The house tech admitted that Comcast never manages to keep the channel maps in the meters current. After they figured out another local plan (Rio Vista) that did have channels mapped to 99 MHz, they could test the line. The signal test uses a grid that produces a series of boxes that the tester can vary in size. With about a ten-by-ten grid, a clean signal produces little well defined circles inside each of the 100 boxes. For most channels the grid resolves itself quite quickly. For some channels broadcast around 95 MHz (of course, inside the FM band) resolution was slower. At 99 MHz, there was nothing but snow on the meter. After a bunch of fiddling with new RG-6 patch cords and the like, the network guy was convinced it was not a house problem and went back to the Mill Valley distribution point. (I'm sorry I didn't get the correct names for all these concepts.)

The network guy confirmed that there was no problem at the Mill Valley distribution point. But he did check just a few connections away from the distribution point and found that the signal at the frequency was corrupted. An hour or two later, he returned outside my house, went up on the pole, changed in some new hardware. And voila, the 3 channels are perfect with a SNR at 35-36.

I'm still going to be switching over to DirecTV as soon as I can work out a dish location that doesn't offend my wife's aesthetic sensibilities. The lack of HD content on Comcast (sorry, OnDemand doesn't count as far as I'm concerned) and the poor quality of the Motorola equipment pushed me over the edge. And what would seem to me to be an inability to manage themselves effectively is an added factor. Comcast ought to be able to answer questions like these:


Why do areas with the same bandwidth and same channel coverage require different channel maps? Or if they do require different maps, why can't they keep their techs' equipment up to speed with the right maps, particularly when channels have been broadcasting at 99 MHz in my area for at least a year?

If FM leakage is a known problem in Southern Marin and San Francisco, why is it that no one in their chain of command (CSRs on up to any level other than the top guy I talked to) could identify that problem as the likely culprit when only 3 channels on an FM frequency are having a problem? Why is it that they waste their time and money wandering through generic diagnostic tests again and again?

If FM leakage is a known problem, why wouldn't they set a channel in the FM range as one of the standard quality test channels? (The techs acknowledged that they have five channels they test, none of which are in that range.)

If FM leakage is a known problem and you can't afford to tighten up every little connection in a neighborhood, why not abandon the trouble frequency entirely? I know, they need all that precious bandwidth. But they are not using all their bandwidth in Southern Marin anyway.


Nice as all the Comcast guys were about this, the obvious answer is that they are a not-very-well-run company coping with a network structure that is haphazard and doesn't make much sense.

But the good news for problems like this is that MikeSM's trick, filing a complaint with the FCC, does work to get their attention. If you find yourself missing one three-pack of channels, this might be just your problem--and just the right path to resolving it.

Tom

I'm still not able to use OnDemand. Anyone know what the SRM-8001 message code means? I've called Comcast twice. The first tech said it would be fixed in an hour but wasn't. The next one said that they would have to check if OnDemand was out in the are but my HDHomeRun shows plenty of OnDemand streams playing in my area. I am going to call again and also ask for some free movie credit for this outage.

hi... i have a Sony XBR6 set with the TVGOS system... its been working perfectly, but i noticed a few days ago it no longer seems to be getting any updated guide info... digging a bit deeper it seems to show that it can't find a 'host channel'.

anyone know if this is a known issue that Comcast is working on?

many thanks!
robin

Glad to hear you got it resolved, Tom. It's incredible that you had to spend that much of your time just to get them to fix their problem. You would expect their network to be able to tell them more than just the quality of what was coming out at the nearest distribution point, and thus not have to deal with all that.

Tom, glad it worked out for you. Leakage is treated as a serious problem by the FCC, because if an FM signal is leaking IN somewhere, the full cable spectrum will be leaking OUT in that some spot. This isn't just bad because it can jam OTA TV, but because it can, and has been documented to in the past, jam public safety, ham radio, and a bunch of other wireless users.

On top of it all, the cable system is designed to specifically avoid this problem. This is called having a "tight" plant. The problem used to be a lot worse back in the days without fiber, but is a lot better now.

When the FCC gets your complaint, it's sent to the FCC regulatory liaison in Comcast to respond to the complaint. if they fail to address it properly, the FCC triggers an enforcement action. The Comcast folks in DC know that leakage is a very nad problem, so they probably took the complaint and forwarded to the GM for the SF Bay Area with some comment about how he needed to fix it or else. That's why they moved on it.

hi,

i just noticed a green line (approx 5mm wide) running from top to down on my sharp LCD while watching any HD channels. I noticed it today only but it could have been there for past 2-3 days. I have not made any changes to the setup (TV, cable box or the connection between the two).

Also, when i change the color space from YCC to RGB in the cable box hidden menu the problem goes away. DO u know if any changes have been made in comcast signal lately that may lead to this issue?

An update on my OnDemand problem. Yesterday on the phone with Comcast tech support we figured out that the recent power outage in the area must have damaged the box in a way that OnDemand was not responding so today I replaced the DVR and now it works. The DVR was plugged into a surge protector and was only on standby when the outage in my area occured a week ago Sunday. That outage was preceded by a brief one an hour earlier. I think that might have been a spike and it also probably blew the UPS on this computer. I intend to put the DVR on a UPS so outages don't lose the Guide.

hi,

i just noticed a green line (approx 5mm wide) running from top to down on my sharp LCD while watching any HD channels. I noticed it today only but it could have been there for past 2-3 days. I have not made any changes to the setup (TV, cable box or the connection between the two).

Also, when i change the color space from YCC to RGB in the cable box hidden menu the problem goes away. DO u know if any changes have been made in comcast signal lately that may lead to this issue?Make sure the video cable is tightly seated into the jacks and if so, try changing to another video cable. Could also be a ground loop, Google "video ground loop".

I didn't see it on Criminal Minds tonight, so hopefully that "snap" last night was the fix.

I'm gonna guess it was the network (local or national) as I saw red lines like the ones you described during the AFC title...on my parents Dish Network set up (which was either via Dish's local HD's or OTA-HD, I wasn't sure).

I saw a red/green/blue vertical line during the AFC game also, on the right side about where the 4:3 border would be - this was on my friend's plasma with Comcast, DCH-3416.

However if you mean the green line on the far right edge of the picture, that happened during the last firmware update, in Oct or so. You can either get rid of that by setting your screen properly for overscan (recommended) or changing the colorspace as you noticed.

OK, old subject revisited (hope noone minds)

How many folks actually recieved the Tivo channel update message (for new HD channels), but never recieved them?

I got my Tivo notice about 2 months ago. Tivo shows the channel with the correct station titles (TBSHD, TRAVELHD, etc), but still nothing from COMCAST. Not even a new message DELETING the channels.

Then again, if I want to watch an OnDemand program on a TV without the box, why don't I just bypass the TiVo entirely and scan the QAM channels for it? (The last time I did it, it was on 101-2.) If I need to record it (assuming it's not in HD), that's why I have a DVD recorder connected to the set-top box.Its not that simple. You would still need on demand menus. The box is used for 2 way communication to Comcast to start a specific movie/video. If you happen to tune into an existing subchannel stream of on Demand movie when scaning for channels, all you will get is a surprise movie. It's not the same thing as having scheduled movies you can actually expect by looking up on the guide.
I think you misunderstand. I start the program from my box; presumably, one of the QAM channels will have it. I know that I can't control the program through my TiVo, but would have to go back to my box in order to pause/rewind/fast forward/stop. My intent is merely to watch an OnDemand program on a TV that does not have a set-top box (and the monthly charge that goes with it, which, for all intents and purposes, would be a monthly charge just for the ability to control OnDemand on a second TV - true, I could order PPVs as well, but I have stated (in past posts to this thread, as I recall) why I don't currently have OnDemand menu access to PPVs).

I got the impression the onDemand stuff doesn't necessarily stay on one sub-channel the entire time. I'm guessing when someone pauses or stops and restarts, the sub-channel or stream id could change.
Stopping the program, I understand, as it brings up the "saved programs" menu, but presumably a pause would keep it on the same channel, especially as it automatically "unpauses" after a period of time. (Besides, once I start it, I'm pretty much stuck with having it play all the way through, as the set-top box is in another room.)

-- Don

RBurks,
I have the same issue. I do get TBSHD but not TRAVELHD, etc. What's interesting is Comcast's own TV Listings on the WEB show all of those channels. http://www.comcast.net/tv/tv-listings/
TiVo uses Tribune Media Services for their Guide.
Comcast drives me crazy. On the 15th I chatted online with a Comcast about it. She asked me to check if I got MOJO Channel 750. I gave up after that.

John

Tom Koegel,

Thanks for following up the the Comcast problem and writing to FCC. I would bet these are the actions that have maximum effect on keeping these companies in check. You are helping many more people than your neighborhood.

I think you misunderstand. I start the program from my box; presumably, one of the QAM channels will have it. I know that I can't control the program through my TiVo, but would have to go back to my box in order to pause/rewind/fast forward/stop. My intent is merely to watch an OnDemand program on a TV that does not have a set-top box (and the monthly charge that goes with it, which, for all intents and purposes, would be a monthly charge just for the ability to control OnDemand on a second TV - true, I could order PPVs as well, but I have stated (in past posts to this thread, as I recall) why I don't currently have OnDemand menu access to PPVs).


Stopping the program, I understand, as it brings up the "saved programs" menu, but presumably a pause would keep it on the same channel, especially as it automatically "unpauses" after a period of time. (Besides, once I start it, I'm pretty much stuck with having it play all the way through, as the set-top box is in another room.)

-- Don

I see what you are talking about. The Tivo will not be able to record it though, because it uses cablecard for channel mapping and cannot tune to a manually specified frequency.

But a PC using a clear QAM card would be able to do that. You would initiate the VOD stream from the STB, once it starts pause it, do a full channel scan from the PC tuner card, then when you find the channel, manually map it to a pseudo-channel that the DVR software can be specified to record to, begin recording the program, and then hit play on the STB. When you are done with the show, then you stop the DVR recording on the PC, undo the channel map, etc...

This is a lot of work to do what you are trying to do, but will work.

thx
mike

I have Comcast HDTV service. I have the cable coming into the house on a splitter. One cable going to the DCH3416 STB and one cable going directly into my HDTV television via the ATSC/QAM coax connector. Can someone tell me if the QAM connection provides 5.1 audio? I have tried connecting the digital audio out jack on the TV to the digital audio input jack on my home theater receiver but I don't get any sound when viewing high def channels. I do get sound when viewing SD channels. I have tried connecting an antenna instead of the cable (QAM) with the same results. Does over-the-air provide 5.1 audio? I get sound from the television speakers when watching high def via the ATSC/QAM connector but not when using the digital audio out port.

Everything works correctly when going through the STB though.

Thanks for any information you can provide.

OK, old subject revisited (hope noone minds)

How many folks actually recieved the Tivo channel update message (for new HD channels), but never recieved them?

I got my Tivo notice about 2 months ago. Tivo shows the channel with the correct station titles (TBSHD, TRAVELHD, etc), but still nothing from COMCAST. Not even a new message DELETING the channels.
My tivo didn't report the new channels in Nov, but it did report travel hd on 1/7, as reported earlier by myself and another user. Tho this new channel was added to the lineup, comcast has not turned it on.

The tivo is "right" to report the channel as added, after all it's been added to the authoritative guide data from tribune (you can check your zip code's tribune data with zap2it.com). It's a screw up on comcast's part IMO to list new channels in the guide weeks/months in advance of them actually being turned on.

Can someone tell me if the QAM connection provides 5.1 audio?...Does over-the-air provide 5.1 audio? I get sound from the television speakers when watching high def via the ATSC/QAM connector but not when using the digital audio out port.Yes, the audio going into your TV from OTA/QAM is the same as that going into your STB. The difference in output would seem to be a problem caused by your TV's settings (or its digital audio output).

My tivo didn't report the new channels in Nov, but it did report travel hd on 1/7, as reported earlier by myself and another user. Tho this new channel was added to the lineup, comcast has not turned it on.

The tivo is "right" to report the channel as added, after all it's been added to the authoritative guide data from tribune (you can check your zip code's tribune data with zap2it.com). It's a screw up on comcast's part IMO to list new channels in the guide weeks/months in advance of them actually being turned on.

My Tivo added FXHDP a few weeks ago, and none of the new channels are active. What's worse is that I checked Comcast's web site today, and it also listed FXHDP for my zip code, even though the channel's not active and never has been. It's really hard to blame TiVo or Tribune for something that's clearly Comcast's fault.

OK, old subject revisited (hope noone minds)

How many folks actually recieved the Tivo channel update message (for new HD channels), but never recieved them?

I got my Tivo notice about 2 months ago. Tivo shows the channel with the correct station titles (TBSHD, TRAVELHD, etc), but still nothing from COMCAST. Not even a new message DELETING the channels.

Funny, one of my TiVo's added a bunch of channels back in November, one has been slowly adding them one by one. None of them are active.

Anyone else having audio problems with ABCHD? i recorded Lost and there are audio drops every few minutes or so.

Anyone else having audio problems with ABCHD? i recorded Lost and there are audio drops every few minutes or so.

No problem here with audio on Lost last night.

My Tivo added FXHDP a few weeks ago, and none of the new channels are active. What's worse is that I checked Comcast's web site today, and it also listed FXHDP for my zip code, even though the channel's not active and never has been. It's really hard to blame TiVo or Tribune for something that's clearly Comcast's fault.

Same thing in San Ramon. Anyone know WHY Comcast is being so closed lip on the issue of when/if they will add these new HD channels?

OK, old subject revisited (hope noone minds)

How many folks actually recieved the Tivo channel update message (for new HD channels), but never recieved them?

I got my Tivo notice about 2 months ago. Tivo shows the channel with the correct station titles (TBSHD, TRAVELHD, etc), but still nothing from COMCAST. Not even a new message DELETING the channels.

I'm like you. I live in Berkeley and received the Tivo message several months ago but have yet to receive any of the new channels. The frustrating part for me is I know other parts of the Bay Area received those channels months ago. My parents live in Concord and receive all the new HD channels (TravelHD, TBSHD, QVCHD, etc). I have no idea why Comcast is taking so long to roll out the new programming to certain areas/cities.

How many folks actually recieved the Tivo channel update message (for new HD channels), but never recieved them?
In my area, it was the other way around - for a couple of weeks, I got all of the new HD channels, but no message (I E-mailed Zap2It with the new channel lineup, and got the TiVo message a few days later).

I see what you are talking about. The Tivo will not be able to record it though, because it uses cablecard for channel mapping and cannot tune to a manually specified frequency.
I figured as much - and even if it did assign it to a specific channel, there would be no guide data, so recording would still be impossible (you cannot do a TiVo "manual recording" on a channel that does not have guide data - I learned that the hard way; I assume it's a "feature" to prevent people from using a TiVo as a "digital VCR" without paying the service fee).

But a PC using a clear QAM card would be able to do that. You would initiate the VOD stream from the STB, once it starts pause it, do a full channel scan from the PC tuner card, then when you find the channel, manually map it to a pseudo-channel that the DVR software can be specified to record to, begin recording the program, and then hit play on the STB. When you are done with the show, then you stop the DVR recording on the PC, undo the channel map, etc...

This is a lot of work to do what you are trying to do, but will work.
If I want to record something, I run the feed from the set-top box to my DVD recorder (and from there, into the TV - the passthrough works fine, except that instead of menus showing up, the "two-window" version of the preview screen appears). I was just trying to see if there was some way that Comcast could send a signal that could be picked up by a CableCard as being on Channel 1.


Which brings up another question - are the set-top box's menus driven from software inside the box, or are they generated from "outside"? (If it's inside the box, that's going to make it much harder for even next-generation TiVos to be able to access VOD menus...)

-- Don

I figured as much - and even if it did assign it to a specific channel, there would be no guide data, so recording would still be impossible (you cannot do a TiVo "manual recording" on a channel that does not have guide data - I learned that the hard way; I assume it's a "feature" to prevent people from using a TiVo as a "digital VCR" without paying the service fee).

You can do manual recording without guide data, but the TiVo still needs to be subscribed.

I'm moving from East Bay (San Ramon) to SF (SOMA) next week. I'm transferring my cable service--I have Comcast HD w/ DVR,-- Motorola DCT 5100 STB. It doesn't have an HDMI connector, only DVI. Is this box still current state of the art for Bay Area Comcast? I'm buying a new LCD flat panel and of course would like to take advantage of an HDMI connection if at all possible.

Thanks in advance for your input..

HDMI is pin-compatible with DVI, you just need the right cable (or a dongle/adapter).

Monoprice 6ft DVI-HDMI cable (http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10231&cs_id=1023104&p_id=2404&seq=1&format=2) You'll also need to run audio seperately (analog or SPDIF) since DVI doesn't carry audio, but otherwise it works about the same.

That said, the 5100 is the oldest HD box they made I believe. I would return it and get something newer.

hi... i have a Sony XBR6 set with the TVGOS system... its been working perfectly, but i noticed a few days ago it no longer seems to be getting any updated guide info... digging a bit deeper it seems to show that it can't find a 'host channel'.

anyone know if this is a known issue that Comcast is working on?

many thanks!
robin

i've had this same problem with my Sony Z4100 :(

i've had this same problem with my Sony Z4100 :(

i guess it feels better to know i'm not alone :)

have you tried to repeat the setup process? i haven't but am wondering if Comcast has moved the info feed to another channel and if a rescan might find it?

i'm not even sure how i'd report this to Comcast? i suppose i could call and say my TV Guide On Screen (from my tv, not my cable box) has stopped updating... then i could wait for the laughter to stop... ;)

cheers
robin

i guess it feels better to know i'm not alone :)

have you tried to repeat the setup process? i haven't but am wondering if Comcast has moved the info feed to another channel and if a rescan might find it?

i'm not even sure how i'd report this to Comcast? i suppose i could call and say my TV Guide On Screen (from my tv, not my cable box) has stopped updating... then i could wait for the laughter to stop... ;)

cheers
robin

LOL

i have not bothered to reset the whole system, but i guess that's as good as any since i wouldn't be losing anthing but "no listing"

HDMI is pin-compatible with DVI, you just need the right cable (or a dongle/adapter).

Monoprice 6ft DVI-HDMI cable (http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10231&cs_id=1023104&p_id=2404&seq=1&format=2) You'll also need to run audio seperately (analog or SPDIF) since DVI doesn't carry audio, but otherwise it works about the same.

That said, the 5100 is the oldest HD box they made I believe. I would return it and get something newer.

Thanks, I just found out that Comcast has a newer STB that has HDMI, will call tomorrow and order it for Monday...

It's been a week without any comcast services. Last friday my connection was cut at the pole due to comcast error. OF course I called in the same day and the had a tech come out on Saturday. Of course they didn't believe me when I said that the connection at the pole was unplugged. After 5 minutes of not seing a signal the tech finally decided to go out into the alley to check my feed. Sure enough no connection. Unfortunately he couldn't do anything about it since the pole was missing a climbing rung and the connection was to high for him to reach without a ladder. He then told me he put in a trouble ticket for a bucket truck to come out and make the connection the next day and that at the latest I should have service restored by Monday. I call them again and they tell me that a tech has already been dispatched for that day. Call them again on Wednesday and they say they will send someone out on Thursday and that no one has to be home since the connection is in the alley. Apparently a tech arrives but does nothing since he didn't make "customer contact" and know I'm scheduled again for today. This is just unacceptable for their high paying customers since I suscribe to every service they have in the highest tier, I'm quite close to switching to satellite and vonage for phone service, any suggestions for a Broadband provider that comes as close to 2mb upstream service in the north bay?

It's been a week without any comcast services. Last friday my connection was cut at the pole due to comcast error. OF course I called in the same day and the had a tech come out on Saturday. Of course they didn't believe me when I said that the connection at the pole was unplugged. After 5 minutes of not seing a signal the tech finally decided to go out into the alley to check my feed. Sure enough no connection. Unfortunately he couldn't do anything about it since the pole was missing a climbing rung and the connection was to high for him to reach without a ladder. He then told me he put in a trouble ticket for a bucket truck to come out and make the connection the next day and that at the latest I should have service restored by Monday. I call them again and they tell me that a tech has already been dispatched for that day. Call them again on Wednesday and they say they will send someone out on Thursday and that no one has to be home since the connection is in the alley. Apparently a tech arrives but does nothing since he didn't make "customer contact" and know I'm scheduled again for today. This is just unacceptable for their high paying customers since I suscribe to every service they have in the highest tier, I'm quite close to switching to satellite and vonage for phone service, any suggestions for a Broadband provider that comes as close to 2mb upstream service in the north bay?

This has been my experience with Comcast north bay as well, they nod their heads and say yes, but nothing ever happens, it's the proverbial "in one ear and out the other".

You might try contacting Frank Eliason of Comcast. He's set up a website to help people with this sort of thing, he's already helped a member of this forum. He has a Twitter site for this purpose, although I'm not sure exactly how it works - http://twitter.com/comcastcares

As far as internet service, you might try http://sonic.net/ they have some new products that should match your needs, and their customer service is supposedly outstanding.

i've had this same problem with my Sony Z4100 :(

Me too. TVGOS has been working on my 46z4100 but in the past few days it is gone. My status shows:

search for time - Done: [date updates every day]
search for TV listings - In Progress
search for channel lineup - Done
next listings transmission - Begins: [date updates every day]

The next listings transmission always updates to a future time, but a transmission apparently never happens.

I can't check since I don't have service at the moment but wasn't this information sent in on channel 45, has comcast maybe accidentally stopped that feed?

Anyone else getting NatGeoHD @ 1080i ? I remember that Nat Geo is a 720p chan, and it used to be 720p last time I watched it. A friend of mine from TX just checked his and its 720p. I recorded a small sample last night and today and its at 1080. Is comcast screwing with the channel?

PS. I'm In Sunnyvale (94086)

You can do manual recording without guide data, but the TiVo still needs to be subscribed.
Which TiVos do this? I have a S3 and an HD XL, both of which have active subscriptions. On each of them, I have tried both of the following:

1. Tuning to a channel without guide data (i.e. the channel appears on the left-hand side of the guide, but always says "To Be Announced", and the right side of the guide is blank), and then pressing the Record button on the remote - in both cases, nothing happened, and nothing got recorded;

2. Setting up a manual recording - I've already described what happens in this thread here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15242929#post15242929) (and yes, the channels were selected on the Channel List).

-- Don

I just ordered the digital starter package with HD. Well the tech guy installed the Motorola 3412 box upstairs to my Sony 40" XBR6 via HDMI. The picture quality is nice, but i've seen better. My friend's Viewsonic 32" 720P set looks better. He had new lines installed in his house. I believe I have all the display settings correct on the box. Are my old lines causing the poor picture quality? What should I tell Comcast when I call them? Anyone else have this problem?



Cliffs: Ordered Comcast digital package w/HD. HD is nice, but not what I expected compared to other sets. What should i do? Any suggestions on my problem?

I live in a north facing apartment building in the Marina district of San Francisco. I had been using the Radio Shack loop antenna / rabbit ears (appx $35.00) with gain control which worked okay, but didn't get KNTV (well, one time I held the antenna at arms length outside the window I got intermittent reception); otherwise the overall antenna performance was spotty on KQED and sometimes I suffered signal loss on that and other stations.

I built the UHF/blogspot 4 bay bowtie antenna and report good reception on the UHF channels, even with a subpar reflector (my laundry drying rack for now.) But the concern is getting KGO and KNTV going forward as they will be VHF and the bowtie isn't quite getting them. If I fiddle with it, I do get all the Mt. San Bruno channels like Ion, etc., but not KNTV.

- Would it be worth trying to buy an amplifier? At this point, the expense of around $30 - $40 would come close to buying a specialty antenna.
- Any hope of getting KNTV with one of the more specialty antennas as mentioned in this forum? Such as the Winegard or other brands?

GGSkater- you may be in the wrong thread- try reposting your qeustion over in the San Francisco "OTA" thread at http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=369015

Which TiVos do this? I have a S3 and an HD XL, both of which have active subscriptions.

TiVo HD without CableCard. I scanned for digital channels and did manual recording for a few of the local HD channels. This was a few weeks ago, so I don't remember if this was with version 11 software or not.

When I pulled up Battlestar Galactica on my TiVoHD, I saw terrible pixelation, image stutter and no audio. Also, the recording was only 50 minutes long (not that I could have actually watched it...)

Anyone else see this, live or TiVo'd?

In 94110.

i guess it feels better to know i'm not alone :)

have you tried to repeat the setup process? i haven't but am wondering if Comcast has moved the info feed to another channel and if a rescan might find it?

i'm not even sure how i'd report this to Comcast? i suppose i could call and say my TV Guide On Screen (from my tv, not my cable box) has stopped updating... then i could wait for the laughter to stop... ;)

cheers
robin

reseting mine had no effect. :(

oh well...sort of a bummer because i actually used that feature...

When I pulled up Battlestar Galactica on my TiVoHD, I saw terrible pixelation, image stutter and no audio. Also, the recording was only 50 minutes long (not that I could have actually watched it...)


You may want to check the signal quality for that channel on the diagnostic screen.

After working fine for a long time, today my Tivo Series 3 refuses to tune to any HBO channel (SD or HD) and just comes up with about half a second of whatever is on HBO at the time and then the the black and white cable card diagnostic screen. Dismissing the CC screen then just shows a blank channel.

Looking around it seems that in other areas this can happen when Comcast turns on copy protection for HBO that wasn't previously on for that area. I'd post a URL but it tells me I haven't built up enough cred. The post I saw is on the Atlanta, GA HDTV Thread 14899371, Post 3169.

Does anyone know if Comcast has changed the copy protection for HBO in our area or has anyone else had premium channels stop working on their cable cards and found a solution? I'm in San Jose - 95125.

Calling Comcast did not seem to do me any good. They sent lots of signals and swear to me that my cards are activated, paired and validated (though I have my doubts). After a truck roll I still have no luck. They replaced both CC's and even told me that another tech in the area reported an identical problem with a Tivo and HBO today. Now I'm waiting for a supervisor to call me who won't be around until Tuesday.

I guess I don't get to watch Flight of the Conchords tomorrow night. :(

I don't know about the rest of you, but the lack of DOCSIS 3.0 to the Bay Area news is killing me.

I just saw a story that said that while Seattle is the most wired city (because of tons of wi-fi hotspots), San Francisco has the highest percentage of people with broadband internet.

Yet this area has no ultra high speed internet, except for a few subdivisions/condos with Paxio. We were told that Comcast was bringing Docsis 3.0 here by the end of the year, but that obviously didn't happen. I know people said not to get your hopes up, but I can't help it. Not when you consider the number of people in this area that have broadband internet compared to other markets that already have FIOS and/or Docsis 3.0.

Plus Docsis 3.0 is going to help out with Comcast offering HD, so it's more than just internet.

Come on Comcast, hook up one of your best markets now.

Well, if you read between the lines of some of the articles about the cable companies holding off on moving more analog channels to digital until after the OTA switch, it's easy to understand why things have slowed down considerably regarding more HD in those areas that don't have them yet, and the rollout of DOCSIS 3.0.

The question now is, with the OTA switch likely to be pushed back to June, what are the cable companies going to do? Are they going to stick with that "moratorium, meaning we won't see much of anything until the second half of the year, or now go ahead and "re-start" those programs they halted back in early Dec.

I suspect that once a new date has been decided upon, competition and business interests will rule out over being "nice guys" and those programs will be jump-started. I doubt will hear anything about it until after that date is announced and/or decided on though.

I don't know about the rest of you, but the lack of DOCSIS 3.0 to the Bay Area news is killing me.

I just saw a story that said that while Seattle is the most wired city (because of tons of wi-fi hotspots), San Francisco has the highest percentage of people with broadband internet.

Yet this area has no ultra high speed internet, except for a few subdivisions/condos with Paxio. We were told that Comcast was bringing Docsis 3.0 here by the end of the year, but that obviously didn't happen. I know people said not to get your hopes up, but I can't help it. Not when you consider the number of people in this area that have broadband internet compared to other markets that already have FIOS and/or Docsis 3.0.

Plus Docsis 3.0 is going to help out with Comcast offering HD, so it's more than just internet.

Come on Comcast, hook up one of your best markets now.

This area is never the first area to get any kind of new advanced telecom service. Not from Comcast, not from AT&T, not from anyone. it's a very demanding area, and one where bad news travels really fast. Generally, people will deploy advanced services first in Seattle or Dallas Fort Worth, and then eventually it will trickle into here after most of the bumps have been worked out. PC penetration in these other markets are just as high, but the are more "easy going" than the bay area.

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcast-DOCSIS-30-Deployment-Rolls-On-100443
Little birdies tell us that the technology could hit the Bay Area by the end of the week

Personally I'm looking for another provider since I don't think $58/mo for 6/1mb is very competitive (that's Comcast HSI without also having CATV, which I cancelled last month).

I asked them (begged,really) if they would waive the extra fee if I upgraded to the Blast tier ($54/mo) but they said "no" so I'm currently shopping around.

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcast-DOCSIS-30-Deployment-Rolls-On-100443


Personally I'm looking for another provider since I don't think $58/mo for 6/1mb is very competitive (that's Comcast HSI without also having CATV, which I cancelled last month).

I asked them (begged,really) if they would waive the extra fee if I upgraded to the Blast tier ($54/mo) but they said "no" so I'm currently shopping around.

Thanks for the heads up!
I'll have to make some tests to check before and after speeds.

Well it seems I can get Sonic.net ADSL for $35/mo, that's "3-6mb down, 512-768k up". That does include newsgroup access though, something Comcast recently nixed.

Uverse offers 18/1.5mb internet (I believe this is fiber to the curb, they just completed installing it in my 'hood late last year) - but only if you get Uverse TV service, the cheapest package being $99/mo. :p

Uverse offers 18/1.5mb internet (I believe this is fiber to the curb, they just completed installing it in my 'hood late last year) - but only if you get Uverse TV service, the cheapest package being $99/mo. :p
Huh? You can order Uverse Internet only if you order by phone. You won't qualify for the cash back promotions, but it's $65/month for the 18Mb package alone. Might as well order the TV to try it out--you get a free month, and you can always just cancel it and return the STB if you decide not to keep it.

Uverse offers 18/1.5mb internet (I believe this is fiber to the curb, they just completed installing it in my 'hood late last year)

Last I heard, Uverse was FTTN only. But either way, FTTC is not much better than FTTN since it still uses coaxial or twisted pair for up to a mile depending on how close your home is to the cabinet. So AT&T can still end up playing catch-up in the near future.

Last I heard, Uverse was FTTN only. But either way, FTTC is not much better than FTTN since it still uses coaxial or twisted pair for up to a mile depending on how close your home is to the cabinet. So AT&T can still end up playing catch-up in the near future.

You are correct Fender, AT&T is fiber to the node only, mostly. There are a few selected new subdivisions that are actually fiber to the premise, but they are far and few between. There is no fiber to the curb at all, it's the node or the premise only....

I see, I'm not that up on the lingo. I know ATT just finished putting in a couple of HUGE new cabinets about 500 yards down the street from my house. Mabye less.

$65 for 18mb isn't that great. I'm paying $58 now (for 6mb) and Blast would be $10 more or $68.

I'll tell you one thing, Comcast is going to make the decision REAL easy if they don't fix their service. For about the last 3 weeks I've been getting total connection loss. 60-70% packet loss at the first-second hop! (petaluma/rohnert park) Never seen that before. Last night the modem wouldn't even sync up. I'm having a tech out this morning to check it. I doubt he'll find anything locally, more likely the problem is at the petaluma/rp nodes.

Anyone else in Sonoma Co. been having these problems?

FTTN = Fiber To The Node
FTTC = Fiber To The Curb
FTTP = Fiber To The Premises

Bobby, FTTC actually does exist, but it's more derived from the location of cabinet and how close it is to a customer's home. FTTC is more comparable to FTTN than it is to FTTP, that's for sure.

A good diagram of fttx can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FTTX.png

Well then it's fiber to the curb, just not MY curb :) Google maps says it's .33 miles way, or about 580 yards following the street (much closer, as the crow files).

Nobody else in Petaluma/RP/Santa Rosa having HSI dropouts in the last 2-3 weeks?

I just looked at my notes, this first started happening on 1/7.

I haven't noticed any issues here in Santa Rosa proper, previously a 550 system. My modem signal numbers aren't what they used to be several months ago, but they're still good.

There's a thread at DSLReports about the problem you're talking about though.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r21700126-Bay-Area-MASSIVE-packet-loss-North-Bay~start=40

Yes, I started that thread.

Lots of people all over the country have responded, so I'm wondering if it's a virus or some configuration problem that's widespread.

Though this guy in San Jose has exactly my problem:

"I'm in San Jose, but every night sometime between 8 and 10pm or so, I start seeing occasional packet loss and huge ping times for brief periods.
...
I see each of those almost every night in San Jose, around the same time every night: between 8 and 10pm or so. I assumed that either by SB5100 is dying, or something's gone wacky at the headend. I've forced a new firmware push several times on the modem, and it's worked fine for years, so I'm hesitant to blame the modem (though I do have a BEFCMU10v4 on the way, just in case)."

I have the BEFCMU10 (blue Linksys cable modem).

Now that Comcast is the sole cable company servicing the City of Alameda, is there any chance we'll see an increase in the HD offerings that we missed out on the last time around?

$65 for 18mb isn't that great.
For DSL, it's amazing, considering how overpriced the connections usually are--especially considering that it's 2-6Mbps faster than Comcast's Blast tier (depending on whether it's 12 or 16 in your area), and $3 cheaper to boot (unless the unbundled price doesn't include modem lease, and then it's $6 cheaper). I agree that AT&T should lower its prices at least $10 per tier. It may or may not be worth the hassle of switching for you, though--unless reliability continues to be a problem for you.

To be honest, I've found the ping times for U-verse to be lacking, which sometimes makes connecting to websites slower than I'm used to with Comcast.

The last straw for me was Comcast's TV service and horribly buggy DVR, otherwise I would not have switched to U-verse. The artifacting/audio dropouts and macroblocking just got out of control on their triple-packed HD channels (Battlestar was totally unwatchable during the marathon a few weeks ago). I wish AT&T used a higher bitrate on their HD, because at its best it's just softer than Comcast in the old days, but Comcast HD has gone downhill fast the past six months on the peninsula, and the artifacting and macroblocking are nonexistent.

I just looked at my notes, this first started happening on 1/7.

I started noticing slower or erratic speeds over last few weeks (in North San Jose). How you check for errors?

Yes, I started that thread.

Lots of people all over the country have responded, so I'm wondering if it's a virus or some configuration problem that's widespread.

Though this guy in San Jose has exactly my problem:

"I'm in San Jose, but every night sometime between 8 and 10pm or so, I start seeing occasional packet loss and huge ping times for brief periods.
...
I see each of those almost every night in San Jose, around the same time every night: between 8 and 10pm or so. I assumed that either by SB5100 is dying, or something's gone wacky at the headend. I've forced a new firmware push several times on the modem, and it's worked fine for years, so I'm hesitant to blame the modem (though I do have a BEFCMU10v4 on the way, just in case)."

I have the BEFCMU10 (blue Linksys cable modem).

Do you have any ham radio operators that live nearby? Several of the HF bands that hams use are right where comcast puts the DOCSIS reverse signal. if the plant isn't tight (like the situation in marin a couple weeks ago), the HF signal (SSB or CW) will enter the plant and screw up the reverse and cause a lot of packet loss, though probably not enough to drop the connection completely.

The time you talk about is typically prime time for ham radio use in the HF bands, which is one reason I am suggesting it as an answer.

if this is the issue, comcast will need to go look for leakage somewhere... This used to be a much bigger problem, ans there aren't as many hams around as their used to be, but some of the MSO's have also gotten sloppy about keeping their plant tight too.

Wow, looks like Comcast descrambled the digital expanded basic channels. Wish they had the right aspect ratios though.

Wow, looks like Comcast descrambled the digital expanded basic channels. Wish they had the right aspect ratios though.

Same here in Mountain View. No aspect ratio problem. SD only, so not really worth watching.

On second thought, I'm not sure if this is a good thing. I'm gonna be super pissed if they get rid of the analog channels.

Good morning, Mr. Van Wink...er, viperx116! Those digital versions of the analogs have been on most of the Bay Area's cables for many months now. ;)

I started noticing slower or erratic speeds over last few weeks (in North San Jose). How you check for errors?

This isn't slower or erratic speeds, this is total loss of connectivity.

I was checking pings to my 1st/2nd hop and seeing massive packet loss.

The tech did a bunch of things, basically re-wired my whole cable, we'll see if that does the trick. I find it hard to believe they would not be getting massive complaints from all over the place if the whole Petaluma and/or Rohnert Park nodes went down for hours at a time at 8-9pm (nobody I talked to said they had other complaints or showed any other trouble).

Though another person said they've been doing maintenence between 8-10pm also. I'm not sure which I find harder to believe, that the CSRs and local techs wouldn't know about maintenence, or that they would be doing it in the middle of prime time (instead of say, 12-3am).

Wow, looks like Comcast descrambled the digital expanded basic channels. Wish they had the right aspect ratios though.

Cool! That means DTA's are coming here soon (that's the only reason why they would turn crypto off for expanded basic).

Those digital versions of the analogs have been on most of the Bay Area's cables for many months now. ;)

unencrypted?

This isn't slower or erratic speeds, this is total loss of connectivity.

I was checking pings to my 1st/2nd hop and seeing massive packet loss.

The tech did a bunch of things, basically re-wired my whole cable, we'll see if that does the trick. I find it hard to believe they would not be getting massive complaints from all over the place if the whole Petaluma and/or Rohnert Park nodes went down for hours at a time at 8-9pm (nobody I talked to said they had other complaints or showed any other trouble).

Though another person said they've been doing maintenence between 8-10pm also. I'm not sure which I find harder to believe, that the CSRs and local techs wouldn't know about maintenence, or that they would be doing it in the middle of prime time (instead of say, 12-3am).

There is very little field maintenance work done by comcast from 12-3 AM... :-) They do this work during normal business hours.

unencrypted?

Seems to me if a person is paying for Expanded Basic then they should put the digital versions (including HD) in the channel range where the trap is (which they have to take off when you subscribe to Expanded). It would depend on their agreements with those networks which knowing the networks might be a little tweaky. They probably know customers are going to complain if they could get the expanded without a box analog and can't once digital. Of course they would have to take away a few channels to host those channels (in HD) in that range. The SD digital versions have been be encrypted but I'm going to do a scan shortly to see if the encryption is off.

unencrypted?No, I discounted the "expanded" in the OP. If that's really what he/she meant, my apologies are extended and I expect that this is a transient phenomenon.

I did a rescan and some of the Expanded are now in an SD digital tier unencrypted and some nearby channels have color bars so this must be a work "in progress."

Yes, I started that thread.

Lots of people all over the country have responded, so I'm wondering if it's a virus or some configuration problem that's widespread.

Though this guy in San Jose has exactly my problem:

"I'm in San Jose, but every night sometime between 8 and 10pm or so, I start seeing occasional packet loss and huge ping times for brief periods.
...
I see each of those almost every night in San Jose, around the same time every night: between 8 and 10pm or so. I assumed that either by SB5100 is dying, or something's gone wacky at the headend. I've forced a new firmware push several times on the modem, and it's worked fine for years, so I'm hesitant to blame the modem (though I do have a BEFCMU10v4 on the way, just in case)."

I have the BEFCMU10 (blue Linksys cable modem).

If you haven't seen it already, you might try some of the tests linked to in the below article. Apparently some of them are "last mile" focused. The sites are pretty backed up currently, but the one I did get working provided some very extensive information, most of which I don't even understand, but it did indicate my connection was good.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/158525/google_partners_release_net_neutrality_tools.html

reseting mine had no effect. :(

oh well...sort of a bummer because i actually used that feature...

hi derek... well i tried again today by going into the tv's auto channel scan (initial setup) and telling it to start from scratch... this took about 1/2 an hour and then i turned the set off... when i turned it on tonight it had regained the channel guide and info... so you may want to reset everything and start from scratch.

good luck! i actually use the feature, too, so i hope you're able to get it back.

cheers
robin

hi derek... well i tried again today by going into the tv's auto channel scan (initial setup) and telling it to start from scratch... this took about 1/2 an hour and then i turned the set off... when i turned it on tonight it had regained the channel guide and info... so you may want to reset everything and start from scratch.

good luck! i actually use the feature, too, so i hope you're able to get it back.

cheers
robin

thanks for the info, Robin. i really appreciate you following up on yoru experiences.

i guess i'll have to try that (although i don't relish that job because i "hide" A LOT of channels i don't watch...but it's nice to know that there is a fix (hopefully this won't happen frequently): i do miss being able to look at the guide to see what's coming up.

i'm not a heavy TV watcher, but i've long been used to using this...especially since i used to have Comcast STB which had its guide...(returned it to save $8/mo since i got the Sony with QAM tuner)

Now that the House has killed the delay in the broadcast digital cutover, does anyone know what impact this will have on Comast adding more linear HD channels and how soon we might start to see that?

Now that the House has killed the delay in the broadcast digital cutover, does anyone know what impact this will have on Comast adding more linear HD channels and how soon we might start to see that?

It's killed right now, but that doesn't mean they won't try again, they still have about 3 weeks to get something done.

It's killed right now, but that doesn't mean they won't try again, they still have about 3 weeks to get something done.

Apparently, it requires a 2/3 vote in the House and with the Republicans lining up against it, passage isn't likely.

Apparently, it requires a 2/3 vote in the House and with the Republicans lining up against it, passage isn't likely.

I hope it doesn't, but I wouldn't count on anything yet. Comcast may very well be waiting until what ever happens, happens.

Apparently, it requires a 2/3 vote in the House and with the Republicans lining up against it, passage isn't likely.

The Democrats are going to try and reintroduce the bill next week but this time it will only required a simple majority to pass but it also will open it up to the floor for debate and I'm hoping the Republicans will filibuster it to death. Also, the Republicans are introducing their own bill which will free up the money for the boxes but will not change the date.

My feeling is that Comcast and the rest of the cable industry is waiting to see the outcome of this mess before they do anything themselves. If it goes as planned and the shift is on the 17th of Feb I would imagine that they won't doing anything until the end of March to give people a chance to get use to the airways digital changeover so as not to confuse those people that just can't seem to get their act together or just don't want to change no matter what. If it is delayed until June, all bets are off on what the cable industry will do. They could just say " Do it on 17 Feb " since you won't be confusing people with this shift going on at the same time or they'll wait until after June to play nice with the new government and that IMHO would suck. I want DOCSIS 3.0 and that won't happen until there is enough bandwidth to do it and as far as adding new channels....it's that sad old story of not enough bandwidth.

I have heard nothing official about what Comcast plans to do in regards to this fiasco but hopefully they will make some kind of announcement soon. If it were up to me, analog would've be gone long ago.....:rolleyes:

Laters,
Mikef5

The above posts imply Comcast is just waiting move all the analog or all the extended basic channels to digital only. There is no evidence there is anything like that. It won't happen for many many months if not years.

In fact Comcast is going to lure analog TV owners to switch to Comcast (with a discount) so that they still get their channels. "Confused? Just get Comcast"!

Internet out again a few mins ago... Called Comcast and robo lady reset the modem... it wouldn't sync up for 10-15 minutes (usually takes 10-15 seconds). When it finally synced up, everything seemed fine. But I lodged a complaint anyway, if it keeps happening, I'll keep complaining... I just hope it's not my modem (which I own).

The above posts imply Comcast is just waiting move all the analog or all the extended basic channels to digital only. There is no evidence there is anything like that. It won't happen for many many months if not years.

In fact Comcast is going to lure analog TV owners to switch to Comcast (with a discount) so that they still get their channels. "Confused? Just get Comcast"!

And you base that statement on what facts ???

Comcast's CEO has already said what they are going to do with the analog channels, the problem is when are they going to do it not if they are going to do it and it's not going to be years.

When the broadcast digital shift was to be in February all of the cable companies agreed to give a one month " quite period " so that people would not be confused with both digital shifts happening at the same time. That meant March time frame, now that the broadcasters shift to digital is up in the air again and possibly will be shifted to the June time frame it is not clear what the cable companies will do, and I don't mean just Comcast but all of them are in this quandary .

It's not Comcast fault that this shift has gotten out of hand and is more confusing to people, the politicians should have just kept out of this and dealt with more pressing problems like getting our butts out of this recession.

Laters,
Mikef5

And you base that statement on what facts ???

Comcast's CEO has already said what they are going to do with the analog channels, the problem is when are they going to do it not if they are going to do it and it's not going to be years.


It is based on experience with Comcast. I don't imply it is wrong. A big change like getting rid of 40-50 analog channels and possibly adding comparable HD channels just won't happen in one or two months after the switch over. especially such a diverse network like Comcast. What is the motivation for Comcast to hurry up anyway? It took one year for Comcast to add last 5-6 channels.

Yes, eventually it will happen (though limited basic might be available in analog for many years). But looks like many users here are unrealistically expecting to get many new HD channels withing weeks of analog switch over. It is is not just a b/w problem...

I would love to be proven (or confirmed by you through your sources) to be wrong.

Howdy,

My TiVo HD has been listing a bunch of new HD channels on Comcast in Redwood Shores for weeks and weeks now. Of course the Comcast box in my bedroom doesn't see these channels, and they aren't tunable on the TiVo in the living room. At the risk of being called a noob, does anyone have any inside info on whether these are real, forthcoming channels, or is it merely an EPG snafu?

I would assume the cable head-end would provide the channel list, but who knows whether TiVo is providing information that either supplements or replaces the channel list from Comcast.

It'd be great if these channels will be real at some point... I have never seen Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" in HD. :-)

Nevermind. I **AM** a noob. I used the "search this thread" function and see that I'm hardly alone. I guess the answer is, "Those channels might or might not appear someday."

Internet out again a few mins ago... Called Comcast and robo lady reset the modem... it wouldn't sync up for 10-15 minutes (usually takes 10-15 seconds). When it finally synced up, everything seemed fine. But I lodged a complaint anyway, if it keeps happening, I'll keep complaining... I just hope it's not my modem (which I own).

Don't know if it's the same problem but I have been losing phone and internet service for short periods of time sporadically for the past two months, the modem keeps trying to reset but can't. Lasts anywhere from 2 to 20 minutes and then everything is fine. Support has really not been helpful. Their best guess was for me to exchange the modem but it happens so infrequently that I haven't bothered. I am in Rohnert Park. Wonder if they could be doing some work around here that support doesn't know about. Saw a guy working different boxes in the area with a table and chair set up and some type of monitoring equipment on the table. Don't know what that was about.

Call Comcast and complain every time that happens. If they get enough complaints they can't continue to ignore them.

The connection from Petaluma goes to Rohnert Park, I've been seeing packet loss on both of those - though if you get loss at the 1st hop, anything after that is suspect.

Next time that happens, open a command prompt (Start -> Run -> type "CMD" hit enter) and type

tracert comcast.net

you'll get a screen like this.

Tracing route to comcast.net [76.96.54.12]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.0.1
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 7 ms * 7 ms ge-1-5-ur01.petaluma.ca.sfba.comcast.net [68.86.142.89]
4 10 ms 8 ms * te-7-1-ur01.rohnertpr.ca.sfba.comcast.net [68.87.192.158]
5 10 ms * * te-0-5-0-0-ar01.sfsutro.ca.sfba.comcast.net [68.87.192.137]
6 11 ms 11 ms 12 ms te-4-1-cr01.sanjose.ca.cbone.comcast.net [68.86.72.85]
7 20 ms 21 ms * te-1-1-cr01.losangeles.ca.cbone.comcast.net [68.86.68.74]
(etc)

If it shows * (stars) anywhere past the 1st/2nd hop (like it does above on line 3, 4, 5 etc) that's packet loss.

From http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11594570

Many Comcast customers who receive analog cable will soon have to get a set-top box to continue to view most channels. The company is upgrading its system in the Bay Area, moving some 47 basic channels that it previously delivered via analog signals to digital transmissions. To receive the newly digital channels, most customers will need one of the company's set-top boxes.

The upgrades will begin around March 9 in Pleasanton and Santa Clara and continue a week later in San Mateo, San Carlos, San Rafael and other cities. The company, which has already begun to notify affected customers, has not said when it will make the upgrade in San Jose. But it plans to complete the Bay Area revamp by the end of the year.

...

In order to receive the boxes, subscribers will need to contact Comcast. The company has set up a special Web site and phone number to receive those requests. Subscribers can put in their set-top box requests at any time, even if the company hasn't yet said when it plans to upgrade its lines in their city.

Anyone put in the request at http://www.comcast.com/digitalnow yet?

From http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11594570

Many Comcast customers who receive analog cable will soon have to get a set-top box to continue to view most channels. The company is upgrading its system in the Bay Area, moving some 47 basic channels that it previously delivered via analog signals to digital transmissions. To receive the newly digital channels, most customers will need one of the company's set-top boxes.


Does this mean:
a) more HD channels
and
b) the end (or reduction) of HD compression/3 packing?

Any info if Comcast will sell the DTAs instead of rent them? If they don't, then it's time to say bye bye.

Oh, great. And here I thought my brother had been handed a line of BS from a Comcast tech that had recently been out to his house (we both live in Santa Clara) and told him pretty much exactly what is in that news article. Since they're saying you either need a box or a TV that can accept a cable card, I assume the "new" digital signals are going to be encrypted?

We have the analog expanded basic package, so that's definitely going to affect us.

Link to pics and install instructions for the DTA from back east.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,21816670

Oh, great. And here I thought my brother had been handed a line of BS from a Comcast tech that had recently been out to his house (we both live in Santa Clara) and told him pretty much exactly what is in that news article. Since they're saying you either need a box or a TV that can accept a cable card, I assume the "new" digital signals are going to be encrypted?

We have the analog expanded basic package, so that's definitely going to affect us.

The DTA's do not do cablecard, so therefore the signals must be sent in the clear. It can't decode anything encrypted. They'll use notch filters like they do today to prevent people in basic from getting the signals, just as is done today.

Any info if Comcast will sell the DTAs instead of rent them? If they don't, then it's time to say bye bye.
Viperx,

Comcast does not sell it's boxes, if you need a DTA box, Comcast will give you those boxes, 2 of them without charge ( that was the last word that I received ).

Laters,
Mikef5

If they are going to un-encrypt the ADS channels you won't need cablecard to tune them, just a TV with clear-QAM tuner.

Right now they are encrypted though.

As far as notch filters... let's just say they don't quite block everything. :cool:

From http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11594570

Many Comcast customers who receive analog cable will soon have to get a set-top box to continue to view most channels. The company is upgrading its system in the Bay Area, moving some 47 basic channels that it previously delivered via analog signals to digital transmissions. To receive the newly digital channels, most customers will need one of the company's set-top boxes.

The upgrades will begin around March 9 in Pleasanton and Santa Clara and continue a week later in San Mateo, San Carlos, San Rafael and other cities. The company, which has already begun to notify affected customers, has not said when it will make the upgrade in San Jose. But it plans to complete the Bay Area revamp by the end of the year.

...

In order to receive the boxes, subscribers will need to contact Comcast. The company has set up a special Web site and phone number to receive those requests. Subscribers can put in their set-top box requests at any time, even if the company hasn't yet said when it plans to upgrade its lines in their city.

Anyone put in the request at http://www.comcast.com/digitalnow yet?

Finally, they speak :p ;).

Yes, the article is correct and it should begin in the Bay Area starting in March. The last I heard it would start in the South Bay and expand out from there. This will happen in all Comcast areas not just here.

Channels 2-34 will remain analog for about another 3 years, everything else will be transmitted digitally. As far as which channels will be in the clear, I'll have to ask but I think it would be better to wait until they get everything shifted and at a somewhat stable state but I would imagine what ever is in the clear now "should" remain that way.

Once the shift is completed and the bandwidth is recovered, all of the areas that didn't get the new HD channels will have the bandwidth to receive them and newer channels will now be able to be provided to the entire Bay Area.

Also, DOCSIS 3.0 should follow soon after that, which should give you internet people a big increase in speed. Pricing ??? I don't know, but with the economy hurting the way that it is, I would hope that Comcast would take that into consideration in their pricing scheme.

As far as " 3 packing ", I have no knowledge of that but I would imagine that it is going to remain until a better technology comes along.... think mpeg-4 ;)

This whole problem in shifting to a digital world was exasperated by the interference of the government and it's total lack of knowledge in this technology, mismanagement at it's finest.

So, long story made short, Once the shift is done ( or possible as the shift is going on ) the rest of the Bay Area will get the new HD channels, DOCSIS 3.0 will follow after that and a million new HD channels will be added...... or maybe not ..... :D I know they are planning on having about 100 HD channels by the end of the year but I don't count channels, I'd prefer a better selection with optimum picture quality... ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

If they are going to un-encrypt the ADS channels you won't need cablecard to tune them, just a TV with clear-QAM tuner.

Right now they are encrypted though.Eggshully, "right now" they are not encrypted and they are not in the Expanded Basic notch filter area (at least not all of them). Go figure.

From http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11594570

Yes, finally. FYI, the DTAs in the area are Pace, though I've held some Thomson and Moto units.

Don't forget that standard basic+expanded includes 2 DTA and a standard set top box. Get 100% digital, on 3 sets with standard, 1 of them getting VOD.

Am I the only person whose TiVo shows channels like Bravo HD, FX HD, CNBC HD, and several others, but it continues to say the channels are not available? It's been like this over a month, and I REALLY want some of these channels! Zip code is 94523 in Pleasant Hill.

**EDIT** Read on TiVo forums which sent me to the a post a few people above this one. Haha, thanks for the info. Hope we get those channels REAL SOON!

Eggshully, "right now" they are not encrypted and they are not in the Expanded Basic notch filter area (at least not all of them). Go figure.

I expect they will move them there at some point. I think right now they turned off crypto where they are so they can do testing of DTA's. But for production, I would expect them to be moved...

Anyone here have a DTA being tested?

As far as " 3 packing ", I have no knowledge of that but I would imagine that it is going to remain until a better technology comes along.... think mpeg-4 ;)



Of greater impact is the fact that those 3-pk channels are also sold(via CMC and HITS) to other cable companies for transmission on their systems as well as Comcast's, so I wouldn't expect to see any "un-pakking" anytime soon, if ever.

Will the ADS channels be mapped to the present analog numbers for the qam tvs and dvrs without cablecards? Otherwise it will be alot of fun hunting for them.

Will the ADS channels be mapped to the present analog numbers for the qam tvs and dvrs without cablecards? Otherwise it will be alot of fun hunting for them.

Unless you have an OOB tuner on the QAM card, you can't receive the channel mapping commands from the headend. So then you must manually tune nand map them. This is the way all clear qam mapping works today.

The hdhomeruns have the ability to upload the mapping that you or someone else does, and then share them with others, so at least things don't have to be done a multiple times.

If the DTA's don't have an OOB tuner in them, I would assume the PSIP data for these channels might have a mapped channel number in them that some TV's can use. If Comcast inserted good PSIP data that is.

Of greater impact is the fact that those 3-pk channels are also sold(via CMC and HITS) to other cable companies for transmission on their systems as well as Comcast's, so I wouldn't expect to see any "un-pakking" anytime soon, if ever.


Yes, though they could use better equipment than the crappy gear they are using now.

The DTA's do not do cablecard, so therefore the signals must be sent in the clear. It can't decode anything encrypted. They'll use notch filters like they do today to prevent people in basic from getting the signals, just as is done today.

OIC. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

hi derek... well i tried again today by going into the tv's auto channel scan (initial setup) and telling it to start from scratch... this took about 1/2 an hour and then i turned the set off... when i turned it on tonight it had regained the channel guide and info... so you may want to reset everything and start from scratch.

good luck! i actually use the feature, too, so i hope you're able to get it back.

cheers
robin

hmmm...i tried it last night and unfortunately, it didn't do the trick for me. :(

the only thing i can think of is basically powering off the TV (unplugging for a while) and then doing a true initial setup, which would be a pain...

but auto program itself in the channel settings didn't fix my problem...sigh...will try the "initial setup" option tonight. hope that won't foul up my picture settings...

i have comcast basic cable w/o cable box in foster city area. my tv was able to get the TV guide info before. However, a few weeks ago, the TV stopped picking up the TV guide info. Anyone know what's going on?

I have the same problem with my Sony TV and Comcast limited basic in San Jose. The TV Guide was working up until a week or two ago, but now I don't get any listings. Comcast is making a lot of changes in the bay area to move expanded basic channels to digital. I rescanned my Sony and can now (I think temporarily) pick up expanded basic channels on digital. Hopefully when things settle out from the changes, the TV Guide will be restored.

My Sony dvr TV Guide has been good the last week or so, there were problems a few weeks ago here and other areas of the country. The problems were discussed in Sony dvr thread.

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

For those of you that live in the Bay Area and have comcast, what HD channels do yuo get with the Qam tuner (just screwing the cable from the wall directly into the HDTV? Usually you get the local channels but I was wondering if you get others too. Thank you.

...

Don't forget that standard basic+expanded includes 2 DTA and a standard set top box. Get 100% digital, on 3 sets with standard, 1 of them getting VOD.
Does this mean Comcast will stop charging Digital Additional Outlet fee for multiple set-top boxes?
How about DAO associated with cablecards?

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

For those of you that live in the Bay Area and have comcast, what HD channels do yuo get with the Qam tuner (just screwing the cable from the wall directly into the HDTV? Usually you get the local channels but I was wondering if you get others too. Thank you.

Just the locals.

DOCSIS 3.0 available in the bay area ? :eek::eek:


http://www.speedtest.net/result/402460462.png (http://www.speedtest.net)
http://www.speedtest.net/result/402465095.png (http://www.speedtest.net)
http://www.speedtest.net/result/402466587.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

follow-up: using the "initial setup" option, and go through that got me back my guide!

thankfully, no other settings were reset or lost.



hmmm...i tried it last night and unfortunately, it didn't do the trick for me. :(

the only thing i can think of is basically powering off the TV (unplugging for a while) and then doing a true initial setup, which would be a pain...

but auto program itself in the channel settings didn't fix my problem...sigh...will try the "initial setup" option tonight. hope that won't foul up my picture settings...

DOCSIS 3.0 available in the bay area ? :eek::eek:


http://www.speedtest.net/result/402460462.png (http://www.speedtest.net)
http://www.speedtest.net/result/402465095.png (http://www.speedtest.net)
http://www.speedtest.net/result/402466587.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

I live in Berkeley and am not seeing anything like those numbers.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/402529459.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

did you sign up for 3.0 and are they charging you more?
if not then this was just comast messing with routes from you to
the local speedtest server. they do that from time to time to look better.

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

For those of you that live in the Bay Area and have comcast, what HD channels do yuo get with the Qam tuner (just screwing the cable from the wall directly into the HDTV? Usually you get the local channels but I was wondering if you get others too. Thank you.

In Moss Beach (coast communities south of Pacifica) we get only music channels with QAM. We do not have HD available (or even On Demand) with or without a STB. Our analog NBC channel is almost unwatchable: EXCEPTION - yesterday, the Super Bowl came in crystal clear... sound and video. Still analog, and 4:3 size - stuff was actually moving off the screen to the sides (especially in commercials) like they just put a 4:3 bezel over a 16:9 picture.

I live in Berkeley and am not seeing anything like those numbers.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/402529459.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

That's funny, I was getting 0.4mb last night. I'm about >< close to pulling the plug altogether.

Anyway, no. You would need a new modem for Docsis 3.0 so you'd know if you had it. I assume something was just screwy with the speed test.

Official release from Comcast about the analog to digital shift
-------------------------------------------------------------------

WHAT: With the World of More Digital Migration, Comcast is converting expanded basic cable channels (usually channels 35 to 82) from analog to digital format.

WHEN: Starting now and through 2009.

WHERE: San Francisco Bay Area.

WHY IS THIS A CONSUMER STORY? Comcast will immediately offer more customers the advantages of digital TV by giving people a digital starter package at no additional cost. And by reclaiming bandwidth, Comcast can offer more HD choices and roll out more services and faster Internet speeds.

WHAT’S HAPPENING LOCALLY: We will be reaching out to customers city by city throughout the Bay Area. Customers will be notified with letters, television advertising, phone calls and screen crawls.

Just the FAQs

Q. What is Comcast’s ‘The World of More’ Digital Migration Project?

The World of More Project involves transforming Comcast’s expanded basic cable channels (very roughly channels 35 to 82) from analog to a digital format.

To do this, all customers who currently have expanded basic cable in their homes will need either a digital set-top box like what we have today, or a Digital Transport Adapter (DTA), a new piece of equipment that we will begin distributing next week.

Q. How does this impact customers of the analog ‘limited basic’ service?

The World of More Project does not affect customers of limited basic service (typically channels 2 to 35. Comcast will continue to deliver signal to people with analog sets even after the federal broadcast digital transition.

Q. Why are you doing this?

To provide better services for our customers in a competitive environment. The new digital signal will have a sharper picture and better sound quality. Customers with an HDTV and HD box will benefit as we launch more HD channels. In addition, Comcast will have the flexibility to launch new services and faster internet speeds.

Q. How are you educating people about the difference between the Comcast program and the federal digital broadcast transition?

The entire cable industry has been, and will, participate in a major education effort. Comcast has a website www.comcast.com/dtvsite, that helps people sort through their options, ranging from getting a converter to getting a TV with a digital tuner to hooking up to cable. Meantime, we will directly approach customers who are affected by our effort and explain that it is unrelated to the federal program.

Q: How will you begin to get these boxes and adapters to customers?

In early February we will begin deploying boxes and adapters whenever a customer contacts us; everything from a service call to a new connection. We are now advertising that customers can call us at 1-877-634-4434.

Q: How will other people know they need equipment?

We plan an extensive series of ‘call to action’ mailers and phone calls to contact customers. We will also approach local daily and weekly newspapers and any other important media, such as local blogs, to ask for help educating people. We realize some people might not act even after mailers, phone calls, knocks on the door, and stories in newspapers.

Q: When will the channels be switched over around the state?

We expect to conclude in 2009.

Q: What equipment is involved for the consumer and how much will be distributed around the state?

A: There are two pieces of equipment involved. The first is the traditional cable “box,” also known as a digital set-top box. Digital video recorders (DVRs) are a type of set-top box.

The second piece of equipment is called a Digital Transport Adapter, or DTA. It is a very simple adapter that will mostly be used on the second or third televisions in a house. A DTA lets the analog TV display the digital signals. It is very small and plugs directly into any cable-ready TV. DTAs will be used with customers who would like to keep the analog TV experience. There are no premium channels, no guide, and no access to VOD. The DTA comes with a new and easier-to-use remote.

Q: What will this cost customers?

There will be no additional cost for almost anyone.

Expanded Basic) only customers will receive:

* One (1) free DCT and two (2) free DTAs.
* After the first two (2) free DTAs, each additional DTA will be $1.99 a month. (in other words, only people with more than three TVs would pay this charge)

Current digital customers with expanded basic on additional outlets will receive:

* Two (2) free DTAs for their additional outlets.
* After the first two (2) free DTAs each additional DTA will be $1.99 a month.

Q: What benefits will people see?

People who get a set-top box will enjoy all the interactivity of cable: access to On Demand, including hundreds of free shows and movies, access to PPV, Movie Plex, the Digital Music Channels, Comcast Central and our Interactive Program Guide.

With just a DTA, customers do not receive access to On Demand, but they do receive better picture and sound quality than what they received with analog service. They will also receive more channels, as described in the next few questions. They will receive 30 FM music stations. More importantly, they are ready when the digital migration occurs and will ensure that they will not lose any channels

Q: Do people get any more channels when they get one of these DTAs?

Immediately, everyone with a DTA will receive a better quality picture because of the new digital signal. Customers will also receive:

103 Leased Access
104 Local Origination
108 California Channel
109 C-SPAN2
110 CSPAN-3
111 TV Guide
119 Sprout
128 Bloomberg
136 G4
149 Movieplex
164 Shop NBC
166 FEARnet VOD
168 Access Television
185 Hallmark Channel
187 Universal Sports
188 KTVU - DTLAT
189 KQED - Encore & Life
190 KQED - World
191 KQED VMe
192 KQED - Kids
194 KGO Plus
195 KGO AccuWeather Now
196 KBWB - DT Azteca
197 KICU - DTKTV
199 KFTY - DT
229 EWTN
230 Trinity Broadcast
410 CSN Plus/Jewelry TV
504 Lifetime Movie Network
901-951 Music channels from Rock to Rap and Country to Classical
960-989 Digital FM channels

Phase One (On or about March 9th)

Pleasanton
Santa Clara

Phase Two (On or about March 16th)

South San Francisco
San Rafael
Novato
San Mateo
Belmont
San Carlos

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope this helps answer most of your questions about this transition to digital, and thanks to Mr. J. and Comcast for this information.

Laters,
Mikef5

Right now I use a Tivo Series 2 Dual Tuner with a digital STB for the 2nd tuner.

When the switchover happens, does that mean that my on-board tuner on the Tivo is no longer useful?

Right now I use a Tivo Series 2 Dual Tuner with a digital STB for the 2nd tuner.

When the switchover happens, does that mean that my on-board tuner on the Tivo is no longer useful?TiVo tuner will receive only Limited Basic channels 2-35 as I understand it.

Mikef:

In Phase 1, Pleasanton is listed. Does this include the Greater Tri Valley area like Dublin, San Ramon & Livermore?

Thanks Mikef5.

Does anyone know if the DTA will decrypt the Expanded Basic digital channels that are currently encrypted for ADS? Or is there another security scheme that will prevent a Limited Basic only customer from using a plain QAM tuner from viewing those channels? Another way of asking, are the Expanded channels being put onto frequencies that will be excluded by current notch filters?

was at a friends house in palo alto last saturday. he had the following HD channels all coming in nicely via comcast: E!, speed, fox news, fox business, cnbc, FX... possibly a couple more that i missed.

anyone else getting these? any word when they may be more widely available?

Mikef:

In Phase 1, Pleasanton is listed. Does this include the Greater Tri Valley area like Dublin, San Ramon & Livermore?

To be honest, I don't know but it would make sense to me to do the shifts by head-ends and not city by city. Take my case, I'm in the SaraMilGatos head-end ( Saratoga, Milpitas, Los Gatos areas ), it would seem to me that it would be easier to knockout the whole head-end at once rather than doing these cities one at a time but I'll ask just the same.

Another thing, if anyone thinks they will need to use one of those DTA's I'd get them as soon as they are available and not wait around. They are suppose to send out fliers to their customers and it's better to be pro-active than passive IMHO... ;) That way you're prepared and this transition should be transparent to you.

Laters,
Mikef5

To be honest, I don't know but it would make sense to me to do the shifts by head-ends and not city by city. Take my case, I'm in the SaraMilGatos head-end ( Saratoga, Milpitas, Los Gatos areas ), it would seem to me that it would be easier to knockout the whole head-end at once rather than doing these cities one at a time but I'll ask just the same.

Mike, do you know which head-end serves the Benicia/Vallejo area?

Thanks Mikef5.

Does anyone know if the DTA will decrypt the Expanded Basic digital channels that are currently encrypted for ADS? Or is there another security scheme that will prevent a Limited Basic only customer from using a plain QAM tuner from viewing those channels? Another way of asking, are the Expanded channels being put onto frequencies that will be excluded by current notch filters?


I have mentioned this multiple times before. The DTA's CANNOT DECRYPT any channel. They have no hardware to do that. The FCC is making the MSO's use cablecard to do any decryption as per the law, and with all the crap that cablelabs has required STB's that support cablecard to do, the cost of embedding cablecard in a device makes it cost prohibitive to deploy for mass conversion of subs to digital.

So to make the DTA possible, they aren't using a cheaper crypto solution (they can't), but MUST turn the crypto OFF on any channel that the DTA is supposed to be able to decode. There is also an issue on how the map the channels in the device, since the VCT that's transmitted over the OOB carrier is usually encrypted as well. But in any case, the effect is that any ADS versions of exapnded basic channels must be sent in the clear.

The good news is that not only will DTA's be able to receive these channels, but so will any QAM cable TV (without a box) as well as any PC QAM tuner card. So if you have a QAM capable HDTV (most are), you can probgram it to receive the digital versions of expanded basic and skip the box entirely. The question is whether or not comcast will send PSIP data to allow the TV to do the channel mapping itself, or subs will have to do all of it manually.

I would expect that they will move the ADS channels into a frequncy block covered by the basic notch filter used on drops. If not, you could take a DTA from another home and stick on a basic subs home and have them receive the expanded basic tier, or just program the channels into your QAM ready TV. It's a bit of a hassle to move channels like that, and I don't think they have turned off any analog channels in the expanded basic frequency band yet (i.e. the whole chunk of spectrum is carrying analog stations now). So my bet is once they shut off the expanded basic analog tier, they will move the channels then, or they may turn off 3-4 analog channels in the tier first, then move the ADS channels, then turn off the rest later. My best is that they'll do the former. If people steal programming because the channels aren't covered by a notch, folks may just get used to watching them and convert to digital subs when they move them their permanent spots.

Hopefully this clears things up a bit.

I have mentioned this multiple times before. The DTA's CANNOT DECRYPT any channel. They have no hardware to do that. The FCC is making the MSO's use cablecard to do any decryption as per the law, and with all the crap that cablelabs has required STB's that support cablecard to do, the cost of embedding cablecard in a device makes it cost prohibitive to deploy for mass conversion of subs to digital.Either this statement isn't quite true or the recent Comcast press releases are, er..., mistaken. They clearly state that one will need either the STB or a device that's CC capable.

That comcast has pledged to free up more analog bandwidth seems like the best news from them in a long time.Phase Two (On or about March 16th)

South San Francisco
San Rafael
Novato
San Mateo
Belmont
San Carlos
I wonder what this schedule does for the HD channel additions announced last Nov. but never added for these cities.

I stopped by the Comcast office at lunch today to see what I could get without paying anything extra. I have Standard Cable, which includes Limited Basic and Expanded Basic.

I already have the free CableCard, which allows my TV to tune all HD channels in the 700's, except for premium channels like HBO and Showtime.

For the STB, I got a Motorola DCT700. It is a very simple device, and the only outputs are composite video, L+R analog, and RF.

The for the DTAs, I got two Pace DC50X's. These are even simpler. The only output is RF on channel 3 or 4. BTW, I have not yet tried any of the units.

I asked if I could get anything that could output HD without paying extra, and the agent said no. I guess I shouldn't complain. The CableCard is giving me more than 20 encrypted HD channels without paying anything extra. ESPN-HD is great during football season.

Given the low quality video outputs on the DTA and STB, I really hope that Comcast keeps the digital version of Expanded Basic as in-the-clear QAM. The ability to plug a cable into a TV (even if it has to be a new TV) and get all the channels I pay for without a set-top box is the only thing that prevents me from jumping to satellite or AT&T U-Verse. To be honest, with a CM 4228 pointed at Sutro that does a great job receiving all the major networks and a Netflix subscription, I should probably drop cable anyway.

-Dave

Either this statement isn't quite true or the recent Comcast press releases are, er..., mistaken. They clearly state that one will need either the STB or a device that's CC capable.

Press releases aren't exactly nvetted by engineering people. I ASSURE you, the DTA's have no ability to decode anything that's encrypted. Period, end of story. Google DTA and you'll see what I mean. No cablecards are embedded in these devices. They may classify the DTA as a STB, in which case the comments are somewhat more accurate. Even though your TV can tune the ADS channels natively (go ahead and try it - it should find them now), Comcast is probably not choosing to support that mode of operation.

Of course, another possibility is that the p.r. is deliberately obfuscating the fact that the content is not scrambled. ;) Using a CC-equipped tuner won't hurt and it will give you the channels sorted into their "official" numbers so that you don't need to manually decipher the QAM channels.

I already have the free CableCard, which allows my TV to tune all HD channels in the 700's, except for premium channels like HBO and Showtime.

For the STB, I got a Motorola DCT700. It is a very simple device, and the only outputs are composite video, L+R analog, and RF.

Actually, I don't think this STB should be free in your case because you already have a CableCard as your primary outlet. Watch your bill.

That comcast has pledged to free up more analog bandwidth seems like the best news from them in a long time. I wonder what this schedule does for the HD channel additions announced last Nov. but never added for these cities.

They can't add the new HD channels, that some areas got, until they reclaim the bandwidth from those analog channels that are being moved to digital. I'm sure once that is done those HD channels will be added probably phased in area by area. Trying to get a time frame on how long this will take would be impossible to determine but if Comcast had waited until the broadcasters completed their digital shift, like the government wanted them to do, we'd be waiting until Hell froze over ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Yeah, I actually say "kudos" to Comcast for going ahead with switchover. I could be wrong but it looks like most of the cities in Phase I and II are cities that didn't get the new HD channels. Probably not a coincidence...

DOCSIS 3.0 available in the bay area ? :eek::eek:


http://www.speedtest.net/result/402460462.png (http://www.speedtest.net)
http://www.speedtest.net/result/402465095.png (http://www.speedtest.net)
http://www.speedtest.net/result/402466587.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Your first two could be power boost, even those uploads are crazy. But that last one? It's clear that DOCSIS 3.0 is coming here sooner than the "haters" want to admit. :D

Another thing, if anyone thinks they will need to use one of those DTA's I'd get them as soon as they are available and not wait around. They are suppose to send out fliers to their customers and it's better to be pro-active than passive IMHO... ;) That way you're prepared and this transition should be transparent to you.

Mike, that was my first thought when Comcast's migration plans hit the newsmedia in the Bay Area a few days ago, but then I thought perhaps I should hold off. What with the fluid nature of digital technologies, I wondered whether Comcast might be handing out a newer generation of STBs and DTAs by the time the migration reaches me. Of course, for all I know, the migration might reach me within the next month, not towards the end of the year!

Do you think the box technology is going to stay the same throughout the Bay Area migration? If so, as you say, I might as well get my allotment of boxes now and start playing with them.


Thanks!
Patty

Mike, that was my first thought when Comcast's migration plans hit the newsmedia in the Bay Area a few days ago, but then I thought perhaps I should hold off. What with the fluid nature of digital technologies, I wondered whether Comcast might be handing out a newer generation of STBs and DTAs by the time the migration reaches me. Of course, for all I know, the migration might reach me within the next month, not towards the end of the year!

Do you think the box technology is going to stay the same throughout the Bay Area migration? If so, as you say, I might as well get my allotment of boxes now and start playing with them.


Thanks!
Patty

Patty,

One of the good things about Comcast or any cable company is that if new boxes come out all you have to do is take the old one in and get the new one. The box is theirs so I would have no qualms about getting a new box, it costs you nothing. That being said, I don't see any new boxes coming out any time soon so don't let that deter you from getting the boxes that you need.

Laters,
Mikef5

Oh, you're right, Mike--I hadn't considered the possibility of upgrading the box later with a simple swap.

Do you know whether we have to wait until we get the official letter, or can wander into a Comcast office and pick up the stuff now? A Comcast guy was on a local consumer radio show the other day, and I think he said the latter was fine. Without a digital migration letter, of course, I would take a Comcast bill to prove that I have a subscription.


Patty

Oh, you're right, Mike--I hadn't considered the possibility of upgrading the box later with a simple swap.

Do you know whether we have to wait until we get the official letter, or can wander into a Comcast office and pick up the stuff now? A Comcast guy was on a local consumer radio show the other day, and I think he said the latter was fine. Without a digital migration letter, of course, I would take a Comcast bill to prove that I have a subscription.


Patty
Patty,

I'm sure Comcast would have no problems with you going to your local Comcast office and picking up a box if you want to be ready ahead of time. But I'm pretty sure that Comcast will put most of the boxes in the areas that are scheduled to be shifted per the memo I posted but they did give a phone number to call if you wanted to get one.....

In early February we will begin deploying boxes and adapters whenever a customer contacts us; everything from a service call to a new connection. We are now advertising that customers can call us at 1-877-634-4434.

That would be the best way to go and they can give you the latest information. Hope this helps you.

Laters,
Mikef5

For those of you that would like to see what these boxes ( the Pace DC50X, I assume they are going to still use this box ) look like and a simple unboxing of the unit here's a link to the article...http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r21518134-Digital-Transport-Adapter-Unboxing-Photos
Be sure to read the Q&A section of the article.

Laters,
Mikef5

For those of you that would like to see what these boxes ( the Pace DC50X, I assume they are going to still use this box ) look like and a simple unboxing of the unit here's a link to the article...http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r21518134-Digital-Transport-Adapter-Unboxing-Photos
Be sure to read the Q&A section of the article.

Laters,
Mikef5

Awesome. I am going to get a Pace DTA just to help with the QAM channel mapping for my SageTV tuners! It's great that they have those diagnostics. It's really helpful for all the new QAM channels, and esp helpful for FM radio channels which have always been a PITA to map.

It looks like the OOB channel is now unencrypted so the DTA's can read the VCT updates. Very nice. Maybe silicon dust can make a new hdhomerun with an OOB tuner in it and do all the VCT mapping automatically.

Patty,

I'm sure Comcast would have no problems with you going to your local Comcast office and picking up a box if you want to be ready ahead of time. But I'm pretty sure that Comcast will put most of the boxes in the areas that are scheduled to be shifted per the memo I posted but they did give a phone number to call if you wanted to get one.....



That would be the best way to go and they can give you the latest information. Hope this helps you.

Laters,
Mikef5
I went to the Sunnyvale office this morning to pick up the DTA for my bedroom tv. The office seems to have lots of these stacked on shelves waiting for customers to come get them. I had no problem picking one up. They said just go ahead and hook it up even before the conversion takes place.

-Steve

Awesome. I am going to get a Pace DTA just to help with the QAM channel mapping for my SageTV tuners! It's great that they have those diagnostics. It's really helpful for all the new QAM channels, and esp helpful for FM radio channels which have always been a PITA to map.

It looks like the OOB channel is now unencrypted so the DTA's can read the VCT updates. Very nice. Maybe silicon dust can make a new hdhomerun with an OOB tuner in it and do all the VCT mapping automatically.

What is OOB? I think you can do about anything you want with the HDHomeRun driver. Just set it up to get the stream. I use the Linux scripts someone wrote and have another to tune the non-PID'd channels. Basically you just tell what kind of channel (ATSC or QAM), then the channel number, the program number and which tuner you want to use. The use the output however from there such as piping it to VLC.

Your first two could be power boost, even those uploads are crazy. But that last one? It's clear that DOCSIS 3.0 is coming here sooner than the "haters" want to admit. :D

No, those tests are obviously bugged. Docsis 1.x is limited to 38mb (download, 9mb upload). If he had Docsis 3.0 he would know it because A) he would have replaced his modem with a Docsis 3.0 modem and B) he would have called Comcast to order it, for $150/mo.

Or they could be faked, I guess I could whip up something showing 9999.9 terabytes per second in photoshop in about 2 minutes, if you want? :cool:

What is OOB? I think you can do about anything you want with the HDHomeRun driver. Just set it up to get the stream. I use the Linux scripts someone wrote and have another to tune the non-PID'd channels. Basically you just tell what kind of channel (ATSC or QAM), then the channel number, the program number and which tuner you want to use. The use the output however from there such as piping it to VLC.

There is an out of band (OOB) QPSK carrier at 75 Mhz that is used to send a variety of data to STB's, including authorization data and VCT (Virtual Channel table) info, which is used to map a logical channel number to the specific QAM carrier and program ID. The hdhomerun cannot do that today because it has no tuner that can receive the OOB data. The same is true for QAM cards for your PC and TV's.

That's why manual mapping is required.

This is going to be completely off topic, but I wonder if anyone has had this experience.

I just called comcast regarding a billing issue, and the lady i was speaking with admitted that she was on a cell phone because of all the static on the line. A cell phone!!! And then, after three instances of me saying "hello, are you there" because of all the static....I GOT DISCONNECTED!!!!! You all can imagine how pissed I am at comcast right now. That's so unforgiveable that i want to cancel my entire service right now.

jeez.

Same thing happened to me a while back. Not with cell phone or anything but called about a bill problem, spent 15 minutes trying to get the CS to understand the issue, only to get disconnected right when she said she got it. Of course I called back and there were no notes on my record so I had to spend another 15 minutes explaining. Very frustrating...

Awesome. I am going to get a Pace DTA just to help with the QAM channel mapping for my SageTV tuners!
It's pretty slick. I pressed the INFO button briefly and the DTA reported the channel as "54 Toon". Then I pressed and held the INFO button to get the diagnostic screen, and the DTA reported a frequency of 693 and program number 7. I looked up 693MHz on a cable frequency table and saw that it was channel 107, punched in 107-7 on a TV with a QAM tuner, and there was the Cartoon Network.

It sure beats watching a channel until you can identify it.

-Dave

It's pretty slick. I pressed the INFO button briefly and the DTA reported the channel as "54 Toon". Then I pressed and held the INFO button to get the diagnostic screen, and the DTA reported a frequency of 693 and program number 7. I looked up 693MHz on a cable frequency table and saw that it was channel 107, punched in 107-7 on a TV with a QAM tuner, and there was the Cartoon Network.

It sure beats watching a channel until you can identify it.

-Dave

Yes, this will make everything much easier for clear qam users, for TV's and PC's. I may get another hdhomerun in fact.

A DCT STB or DVR can also easily display the channel frequency but where do I find the frequency table that DPlettner mentioned?

Thanks MikeSM for explaining the OOB thing.

hiker--

Here's one TV frequency reference (http://www.csgnetwork.com/tvfreqtable.html).

There is an out of band (OOB) QPSK carrier at 75 Mhz that is used to send a variety of data to STB's, including authorization data and VCT (Virtual Channel table) info, which is used to map a logical channel number to the specific QAM carrier and program ID. The hdhomerun cannot do that today because it has no tuner that can receive the OOB data. The same is true for QAM cards for your PC and TV's.

That's why manual mapping is required.

Thanks. IOW, channel 1. ;) Do you have an HDHomeRun? The scan does pick up PIDs but so far there aren't any appearing on the Expanded Basic channels. The script I use tunes channels by theirr vitrtual channel. Also I have a PlusTV stick that can grab program guides too. Cost me all of $30.

A DCT STB or DVR can also easily display the channel frequency but where do I find the frequency table that DPlettner mentioned?
Terry posted a great frequency table above, but I just used the one in Wikipedia:

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

-Dave

The Tri Valley Hearld had an article on the need for the DTA Set top box today. The Livermore Comcast office does have them in stock and I just got my two boxes this morning.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_11620152

For those of you in the Bay Area (I live in Castro Valley) what is your monthly bill? I am looking to maybe got to comcast but want the best deal, so what deal are you getting and with what equipment and programming?

For those of you in the Bay Area (I live in Castro Valley) what is your monthly bill? I am looking to maybe got to comcast but want the best deal, so what deal are you getting and with what equipment and programming?

Here's my latest bill (I have two TiVos, one with an M-card and one with two S-cards, and a set-top box; also note that all of them have full HD access):

Standard Cable -- $60
Digital Preferred -- $17
2x Digital Additional Outlets -- $14 ($7 each)
2x Dual C-card Dig Access -- $3.58 ($1.79 each)
High Definition TV -- $7
Sports Entertainment Package -- $5
WWE 24-7 Subscription -- $8

With taxes and fees, it's now around $125/month - and that's without Comcast Phone or Internet.

-- Don

Here's my latest bill (I have two TiVos, one with an M-card and one with two S-cards, and a set-top box; also note that all of them have full HD access):

Standard Cable -- $60
Digital Preferred -- $17
2x Digital Additional Outlets -- $14 ($7 each)
2x Dual C-card Dig Access -- $3.58 ($1.79 each)
High Definition TV -- $7
Sports Entertainment Package -- $5
WWE 24-7 Subscription -- $8

With taxes and fees, it's now around $140/month - and that's without Comcast Phone or Internet.

-- Don
High Definition TV -- $7 <--- What is this for?

For those of you in the Bay Area (I live in Castro Valley) what is your monthly bill? I am looking to maybe got to comcast but want the best deal, so what deal are you getting and with what equipment and programming?

I wonder if I am getting ripped off.

Here in Newark, CA

Total of 115.79 for cable TV:

$59.95 - Standard cable (includes limited and expanded)
$16.95 - Digital preferred (no premiums but most digitial cable channels)
$15.95 x 2 - HD/DVRS (I have 2)
$6.99 - for the extra outlet

Seems like a bit much for two TV's and no premiums, I dunno. :confused:

High Definition TV -- $7 <--- What is this for?
I assume that's a charge to access the HDTV channels. I was told it would be extra.

(Also note a correction to the total - I didn't notice that the bill had included the $15 one-time installation charge in the $140. I thought it looked a little high...)

-- Don

That $7 should be for an STB but you said you are using Tivos so I don't know why they are charging you that. At least it used to be that the HD STB was $7 more than the SD one. Then it seemed they started giving everyone HD STBs, at least in some areas. I have the DVR which is extra. I do watch a bit of OnDemand stuff which I maybe recall doesn't work on a Tivo.

That $7 should be for an STB but you said you are using Tivos so I don't know why they are charging you that. At least it used to be that the HD STB was $7 more than the SD one. Then it seemed they started giving everyone HD STBs, at least in some areas. I have the DVR which is extra. I do watch a bit of OnDemand stuff which I maybe recall doesn't work on a Tivo.

Are you referring to me or to pappy97?
pappy97 has two Comcast DVRs.
I have a STB (HD, non-DVR) as well as two TiVos.

And you're right about TiVo not being able to get OnDemand (or PPVs, for that matter). It's one of the things on the "Series 4, if they ever get around to designing it, Wish List". (Among other problems, isn't the software that displays the OnDemand menus inside the STBs?)

-- Don

Are you referring to me or to pappy97?
pappy97 has two Comcast DVRs.
I have a STB (HD, non-DVR) as well as two TiVos.

And you're right about TiVo not being able to get OnDemand (or PPVs, for that matter). It's one of the things on the "Series 4, if they ever get around to designing it, Wish List". (Among other problems, isn't the software that displays the OnDemand menus inside the STBs?)

-- Don

If that Comcast STB you have is HD-capable I don't think you should be paying that HDTV fee.

I assume that's a charge to access the HDTV channels. I was told it would be extra.

(Also note a correction to the total - I didn't notice that the bill had included the $15 one-time installation charge in the $140. I thought it looked a little high...)

-- Don

http://www.comcast.com/corporate/shop/hd/hd101.html

See question #9. Straight from the horses mouth...you should NOT be charged an additional fee for HD programming.

I went to the Comcast office today to see if the Santa Rosa area had the 12/2 HSI tier available(many do), turns out they don't, I was trying to save $10 a month over the 16/2, which in reality is not all that great when you consider that there's hardly any servers on the net that could feed that 16mb/s speed to you anyway, so why not save the $10?

Anyway, as I'm standing there in line with about 8 other people waiting, I wondered why is it that Comcast purposely makes their websites so nearly useless and uninformative? Wouldn't it make sense to have the information available without any human interaction? As it was, of the 9 people in line at the office, 6 of them had questions only, 1 returned an STB and it looked like 2 payed their bills.

Now, does that really make sense? To have to maintain an office with staff when it appears most of the traffic is only looking for information just seems silly and costly. I's hard for me to believe that a company the size of Comcast, with the money they make, operates in such an inefficient fashion.

Has anyone ever seen prices for Comcast products on their area website? Have you ever seen accurate channel listings? The only thing it seems to do efficiently is process your bill payment(go figure :p).

When was the last time anyone saw an AT&T office(other than cell phones)? Why does Comcast operate this way, am I missing something? I'm curious why they do it the way they do.

Anyway, rant off, I'm just a bit annoyed that I had to waste 45 mins of my day to get an answer that I could have had in a split second if Comcast maintained a website that was worth a crap. And don't mention calling or webchat as the quality of information you get from those methods, in my opinion, is so suspect that it's rendered worthless.

I swear, making sure the customer is in the dark is corporate policy at Comcast.

Another tidbit of wonderment, if I'm not mistaken, Comcast is the largest provider of internet service in the country, yet their websites are worthless, why is that?

Okay, done now, really. :p:D


P.S. Comcast - Santa Rosa(Airway) has the DTAs for anyone who is interested... (of course, you'd never know that by looking at their website...)

I have a STB (HD, non-DVR) as well as two TiVos.http://www.comcast.com/corporate/shop/hd/hd101.html
See question #9. Straight from the horses mouth...you should NOT be charged an additional fee for HD programming.If that Comcast STB you have is HD-capable I don't think you should be paying that HDTV fee.The $7 charge is really for the HD STB equipment fee ($8 if there is no Digital Service on the account). The billing description for this fee was changed some time ago to High Definition TV instead of HDTV Equipment Fee. Don't know why they did this as it is confusing since the price sheet lists it as HDTV Equipment Fee. If you return the HD STB it should be removed.

I went to the Comcast office today...[snip]
Anyway, as I'm standing there in line with about 8 other people waiting, I wondered why is it that Comcast purposely makes their websites so nearly useless and uninformative? Wouldn't it make sense to have the information available without any human interaction? As it was, of the 9 people in line at the office, 6 of them had questions only, 1 returned an STB and it looked like 2 payed their bills.

Now, does that really make sense? To have to maintain an office with staff when it appears most of the traffic is only looking for information just seems silly and costly. I's hard for me to believe that a company the size of Comcast, with the money they make, operates in such an inefficient fashion.

Has anyone ever seen prices for Comcast products on their area website? Have you ever seen accurate channel listings? The only thing it seems to do efficiently is process your bill payment(go figure :p).

When was the last time anyone saw an AT&T office(other than cell phones)? Why does Comcast operate this way, am I missing something? I'm curious why they do it the way they do. [snip]I thought I heard or read somewhere that many cable service agreements with cities require that they have a local office in that city. Of course, that in no way excuses their ridiculous web site, but that may be the main reason they have local offices. I'm sure they would shut them down if they could.

- Mike

I thought I heard or read somewhere that many cable service agreements with cities require that they have a local office in that city. Of course, that in no way excuses their ridiculous web site, but that may be the main reason they have local offices. I'm sure they would shut them down if they could.

- Mike

I think you're right, but my main complaint is the website, so much of what goes on in those offices could be handled so much more efficiently with a website that was more than just a payment service and an extremely vague marketing tool. About the only thing you can learn from those websites is that Comcast provides TV, HSI and phone, God forbid you try and figure out how much those services actually cost though.

I would tell Comcast that I am NOT renting a box for $90 a year, and that I would like to buy the box instead. If they said "no" I'd simply refuse to pay the rental. (Alternatively I might keep the box when I move-out of the area, since I feel I've rented-to-own.)

Greedy sons of cows. It shouldn't cost $90 a year for a stupid box.

Mikef5:

In Phase 1, Pleasanton is listed. Does this include the Greater Tri Valley area like Dublin, San Ramon & Livermore?

Let me reply to my own question. I got "the letter" today and called Comcast to have them ship me two Digital Adapters. (I tried the website but it gave me a "system unavailable").

2x Digital Additional Outlets -- $14 ($7 each)
High Definition TV -- $7


After several calls from Comcast, this is what I got out of the whole ordeal. I myself have 2 SD set-top boxes, 1 HD set-top box, and three TiVo HDs all using a single M-card each.

I was told by three CSRs that SD set-top box is free, however a "Digital Additional Outlet" fee of $6.99 shows up. So I have two of these fees because I have two SD set-top boxes.

But what bewildered me was earlier this year I added a HD set-top box purely to be used to get On-Demand. I asked them at this point if I would get a "Digital Additional Outlet" fee of $6.99. They said no, they said I only would need to pay the rental fee for the box, which turned out to be "High Definition TV" for $7.

So the end result is, the only difference between getting a SD set-top box and a HD set-top box is purely $0.01. If I knew that, I would have gotten the HD set-top boxes and used standard A/V cables to my SD TVs.

$6.99 = additional digital "outlet" - what that really is for is rental of a non-HD cable box, not sure which model#. If you are using your own tuner (with no cablecard) you shouldn't pay this fee. If you are using a cable-card I believe the fee is only $1.75 or something.

The $7 "HDTV fee" (might be $8 now actually) gets you a DCT-6200 box (HD, non-DVR). Think of this as an "upgrade to HD" fee.

SO for any box beyond the 1st one:
$6.99 = SD box.
+$7 ($13.99 total) = HD box.


DO keep in mind that over the last year-two they've been running promos where they give you a "free digital STB" so you may not be paying the $6.99, at least for a 1-year promo deal. I had that deal, for 1 year they waived the 6.99 - but I was still paying the $7 for a HDTV box. Then after it ran out they gave it to me for half price (a -$3.50 credit actually). After THAT ran out, I switched to DirecTV :)

As far as not wanting to pay it, well that is certainly your right, and it's Comcast's right not to give you a box... They do not sell the boxes, ever, and you can not use one purchased anywhere else. If you don't return the box it goes into the system as stolen and won't be authorized, making it a useless doorstop - plenty of people get burned on Ebay this way. They will also send you a bill for about $650 last time I checked ... whether you pay it or not is up to you, but either way the box is useless to anyone.

$6.99 = additional digital "outlet" - what that really is for is rental of a non-HD cable box, not sure which model#. If you are using your own tuner (with no cablecard) you shouldn't pay this fee. If you are using a cable-card I believe the fee is only $1.75 or something.

This is a correct...and a common misconception. People think they need to pay the $6.99 "additional outlet" fee for the number of digitally connected TV's -- regardless if it's a Comcast box or CableCARD device. A few years back I had to correct Comcast of this "mistake".

This is what makes owning a Comcast DVR so expensive, especially if you have more than one DVR/STB. The second DVR is essentially costing you $15.95 + $6.99 for the outlet fee.

This is a correct...and a common misconception. People think they need to pay the $6.99 "additional outlet" fee for the number of digitally connected TV's -- regardless if it's a Comcast box or CableCARD device. A few years back I had to correct Comcast of this "mistake".

This is what makes owning a Comcast DVR so expensive, especially if you have more than one DVR/STB. The second DVR is essentially costing you $15.95 + $6.99 for the outlet fee.

Argh! Think it's time for me to yell at Comcast again. Ever since I've had my HDTV for the last 3 years, I've had the $7 fee for HD channels on my bill. I've never used a Comcast set-top box ever--only a CableCard. Every time I've called them on this fee, they've said "if you want to watch HD channels you need to pay this".

But now the HD101 link posted above makes it clear that I shouldn't be paying any fee for HD channels beyond what the cost is for a CableCard.

Seriously, Comcast has to be one of the most clueless companies ever! Last summer they sent me a letter that my Digital Classic channel lineup would change and gave me an offer to switch to Digital Preferred--only to find out that the people on the other end of the phone number listed had no clue about the letter/offer.

Now they've sent me the letter about switching to digital on channels 35-82. Oh and guess what, the website on the letter doesn't work--says "System Unavailable". Surprise, surprise.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up, I will have a little chat with them tomorrow!

I went to the Comcast office today to see if the Santa Rosa area had the 12/2 HSI tier available(many do), turns out they don't, I was trying to save $10 a month over the 16/2, which in reality is not all that great when you consider that there's hardly any servers on the net that could feed that 16mb/s speed to you anyway, so why not save the $10? [...]

How much is 12/2? I think I missed some posts on this.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up, I will have a little chat with them tomorrow!
If Comcast was genuinely confused about $7 charge, they would return your fee for last 3 years. Try that too. I would not be surprised at all it is a deliberate policy at some high level to keep reps misinformed to their advantage.

When I first questioned the $7/month charge last year I was told that it was necessary to get HDTV channels. After reading fender4645 post yesterday, I called Comcast. They agreed that the charge was NOT correct and wanted to give me a $7 credit. I pushed the issue and said that I had a cablecard since 12/07 and returned their box when they installed the cablecard. I was adamant that it was THEIR mistake and after the rep "checked with her supervisor", they agreed to give me an $84 credit on my next bill for the past 12 months.

Thanks.

When I first questioned the $7/month charge last year I was told that it was necessary to get HDTV channels. After reading fender4645 post yesterday, I called Comcast. They agreed that the charge was NOT correct and wanted to give me a $7 credit. I pushed the issue and said that I had a cablecard since 12/07 and returned their box when they installed the cablecard. I was adamant that it was THEIR mistake and after the rep "checked with her supervisor", they agreed to give me an $84 credit on my next bill for the past 12 months.

Thanks.

Glad to know it worked. I'll try asking for my money back as well. Thanks!

How much is 12/2? I think I missed some posts on this.

I had some numbers and prices confused. Apparently in DOCSIS 3.0 service areas Comcast has a 12/2 tier for $42.95, that's only 4Mbit/s less than their currently available Blast service of 16/2 for $52.95. For $120 a year savings that's a good deal to me as I really don't think that 4Mbit/s is going to make any difference in my online experience. Maybe when there is more high quality video content available it might, but who really gets sustained speeds for anything over 6-8Mbit/s now?

There's also a 22/5 tier for $62.95 a month. In other words, DOCSIS 3.0 looks like it will more attractive tier pricing than what's available here now.

All the prices above assume sub also has TV and/or phone service.

I tried to find a chart with all the speeds/prices, I know I've seen one, but haven't found it again yet.

This is a correct...and a common misconception. People think they need to pay the $6.99 "additional outlet" fee for the number of digitally connected TV's -- regardless if it's a Comcast box or CableCARD device. A few years back I had to correct Comcast of this "mistake".
I just called Comcast, and the billing rep seemed to be convinced that the $7 "additional outlet fee" applies for each connection after the first to either a STB or CableCards, in addition to the fees for the box/cards.

-- Don

If a Comcast CSR can't even give you the correct channel lineup for your package then how can we expect them to properly explain the billing?

I just called Comcast, and the billing rep seemed to be convinced that the $7 "additional outlet fee" applies for each connection after the first to either a STB or CableCards, in addition to the fees for the box/cards.

-- Don

That's been my experience in the past.

If a Comcast CSR can't even give you the correct channel lineup for your package then how can we expect them to properly explain the billing?

Ridiculous isn't it? For a communications company, there sure seems to be an utter lack of it within. I'm amazed at how simple things like prices and channel lineups are so hard for these people to get a handle on.

That's why I'm convinced it's by design, no company can be this inefficient by chance. :p

The $6.99 AO fee might apply to Cablecards also. I don't know, never used them. I think the 1st one is free, and the 2nd one for use in the same device (ie Tivo HD) is $1.75, but if it's a 2nd/3rd/etc Cablecard used in another device, in another room/etc.. it may be $6.99.

The $6.99 AO fee might apply to Cablecards also. I don't know, never used them. I think the 1st one is free, and the 2nd one for use in the same device (ie Tivo HD) is $1.75, but if it's a 2nd/3rd/etc Cablecard used in another device, in another room/etc.. it may be $6.99.

That's what Comcast is charging me ($6.99 AO fee, no cablecard fee) for the 2nd TiVo. So that's correct?