Thanks. I won't have time for TV watching this weekend though, and my DVR is full... Not really excited to watch Dark Knight cropped to 16:9 with pop-ads over it anyway.

IMO these premium channels are overpriced. I kept Showtime for $13/mo because they have the most HD channels (6 including The Movie Channel) but really thinking of dumping it too. I already have Netflix with unlimited Blurays for $16/mo.

I got a mailing from Comcast today that says that channels 35-75 (Expanded Basic) will go digital on July 22nd for Martinez, Pacheco and Pleasant Hill. Maybe we'll see some more new HD channels then.

Is there any sign that Comcast is using the freed-up bandwidth to add channels? Last I recall, even the last batch of 3(?) additions (BravoHD?) were limited to 860 MHz neighborhoods, and that even those channels had not been added to those 750 MHz neighborhoods even after the transition of expanded basic to digital transmission.

Is there any sign that Comcast is using the freed-up bandwidth to add channels?

Oh yeah. It should be first off, first on.

I won't have time for TV watching this weekend though, and my DVR is full... Not really excited to watch Dark Knight cropped to 16:9 with pop-ads over it anyway.

Pop-ads? HBO doesn't even display logos during their movies.


Patty

I was watching a recording of last night's "Unusuals" on KGO HD and they had a crawl on the top of the screen. Because my 9 year old Pioneer RP HDTV has overscan (about ~1000 pixels x 960 lines) I couldn't read it but just that there was the bottom edge of it going across the top. Probably reminding viewers that if they are having problems viewing KGO to get a better antenna.

Also a friend dropped off some back issues of "Hollywood Reporter" and I read an article about TWC and Comcast being concerned about the recession and people cutting back on subscriptions. They've noticed some lower subscription trends when in other years they usually go up. Subscriptions often drop at the end of the school year as college students cancel their subscription for the summer.

What's up with the addition of the ION HD channel? I can see nothing on it but paid programming, a few MASH episodes, and a western movie each night. Why does Comcast take up our precious bandwidth with wasted HD channels rather than the ones we really want???

What's up with the addition of the ION HD channel? I can see nothing on it but paid programming, a few MASH episodes, and a western movie each night. Why does Comcast take up our precious bandwidth with wasted HD channels rather than the ones we really want???

Probably because it's a local broadcast station, like KRON, which in my opinion is only a marginally less bandwidth waster than KKPX(ION).

Probably because it's a local broadcast station, like KRON, which in my opinion is only a marginally less bandwidth waster than KKPX(ION).

Not a local station but part of a conglomerate, http://www.iontelevision.com/
The reason I think they added it is.... Paid programing = Big Bucks and they probably paid those big bucks to be on Comcast. But you're right no useful programing at all and a total waste of bandwidth. Will it improve in the future, only time will tell but I doubt it.

Laters,
Mikef5

^^^^
What a shame!
Do you think Mr.J or others will listen if we start another wish list for dedicated HD channels?

What's up with the addition of the ION HD channel? I can see nothing on it but paid programming, a few MASH episodes, and a western movie each night. Why does Comcast take up our precious bandwidth with wasted HD channels rather than the ones we really want???

Couldn't agree more. What a waste.

Actually, it is a local station, so Comcast is obliged to carry it, IIUC.

^^^^
What a shame!
Do you think Mr.J or others will listen if we start another wish list for dedicated HD channels?
Mr. J. is always open for input, either positive or negative but the real push right now is to finish up the analog/digital switchover in all areas before the end of the year.

As far as the ION-HD addition and it's waste of bandwidth. I'm sure they understand that but it's really a business decision and all about money and as much as I don't like that decision I do understand it as it applies to the business bottom line it's just I'm a customer and I too would like to see more quality HD added.

Laters,
Mikef5

^^^^^
....especially after seeing a list of the HD channels that other parts of the Country are getting! Seems the Bay Area always lags.....

Mikef5--

Is it not your understanding that Comcast must carry all local stations? If so, why do you say that their "decision" to carry KKPX's ION (vc 65.1, rf 41.1) is about "business"? Seems to me that it's about "regulations".

Not a local station but part of a conglomerate, http://www.iontelevision.com/
The reason I think they added it is.... Paid programing = Big Bucks and they probably paid those big bucks to be on Comcast. But you're right no useful programing at all and a total waste of bandwidth. Will it improve in the future, only time will tell but I doubt it.

Laters,
Mikef5

It's still a local station in the respect that KPIX is the local CBS station and given that, at least in the analog era, local broadcast stations are required to be carried by the cable provider per their franchise agreements. In fact, it might even be an FCC reg. It has to do with must-carry and re-trans/consent.

Mikef5--

Is it not your understanding that Comcast must carry all local stations? If so, why do you say that their "decision" to carry KKPX's ION (vc 65.1, rf 41.1) is about "business"? Seems to me that it's about "regulations".

I did a little bit more checking and KKPX-TV is a local station that carries ION Media programing ( which is not local ). Wiki link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KKPX. So it looks like they have no programing of their own and are using ION Media for their programing. So yeah, since it's a local station they have to carry it but they seem to be doing the same thing that KRON did a while back with Mark Cuban and HDnet. Cuban offered HDnet to Kron so he could get HDnet carried on Comcast since he couldn't do a deal with Comcast on his own.

I don't like the must carry rule especially when they have to carry both the HD and the SD channels of, in this case, a channel that has only limited programing and for the most part show only info commercials the vast majority of the time.

Laters,
Mikef5

I did a little bit more checking and KKPX-TV is a local station that carries ION Media programing ( which is not local ). Wiki link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KKPX. So it looks like they have no programing of their own and are using ION Media for their programing. So yeah, since it's a local station they have to carry it but they seem to be doing the same thing that KRON did a while back with Mark Cuban and HDnet. Cuban offered HDnet to Kron so he could get HDnet carried on Comcast since he couldn't do a deal with Comcast on his own.

I don't like the must carry rule especially when they have to carry both the HD and the SD channels of, in this case, a channel that has only limited programing and for the most part show only info commercials the vast majority of the time.

Laters,
Mikef5

Just to be clear, KKPX is owned and operated by ION Media, just like KGO is owned and operated by ABC/Disney, KPIX is O&O by CBS, etc. Your description makes it sound as if there's something different about KKPX. The KRON/HDNet thing is different altogether. KRON was an independent that purchased old HDNet programming to run on one of it's sub-channels. It's not the same thing as the KKPX situation.

ION Media is the old PAX-TV which was a bunch crap even then, they've just changed the name. Now, if I'm not mistaken, KKPX does have to air some children's and/or educational programing to maintain their license, but it may be as little as 30 mins a day, I'm not sure what the regs say.

The real crime of a station like this is that because it's a local broadcast station, it's no doubt getting a full 19.38mb/s 1/2 QAM slot like the rest of the local stations do, whereas something like SciFi-HD, TNT-HD, etc are all getting crammed together 3 or more per slot.

I assume you meant KRON-HD/704?
I have the same problem so now I know it's probably the trap also. Those channels are missing even with my DCT-6200 as well as my S3. Is tech going to come back and install another trap? Or are they working on a different solution at the headend?

I was looking at the specs on the trap that was used on my line and it looks like KRON and KBCW were placed in the very last 6MHz slot of the trapped Expanded Basic range, on the high end, roughly 486-491MHz. Moving the channels up 1 slot(RF freq) would probably solve the problem, although 2 slots would probably be better given that these traps are not brick-wall.

Also a friend dropped off some back issues of "Hollywood Reporter" and I read an article about TWC and Comcast being concerned about the recession and people cutting back on subscriptions. They've noticed some lower subscription trends when in other years they usually go up. Subscriptions often drop at the end of the school year as college students cancel their subscription for the summer.

Couldn't have anything to do with the fact that Comcast keeps raising prices over and over, while at the same time falling way behind in programming... could it? :rolleyes:

Great news for those that care:


Comcast.net Sports
Free with your Comcast High Speed Internet — ESPN360.com. Watch over 3,000 LIVE sporting events from around the world. Starts Saturday August 1st.

In an earlier post I indicated that I was no longer able to tune channels 704 & 712 (KRONDT2, KBCWDT) on my mythtv system and that the PSIP data was absent. While the PSIP data is still missing, I was able to restore mythtv's ability to tune them using the procedure described here: http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=20010

Couldn't have anything to do with the fact that Comcast keeps raising prices over and over, while at the same time falling way behind in programming... could it? :rolleyes:

I'm sure they will once again want us to pay more for less.

I'm sure they will once again want us to pay more for less.

The opposite has happened to my sister-in-law in San Mateo. She has been getting Expanded Basic via clear QAM (no STB's) and was happily paying that rate. Out of the blue Comcast sends her a notice that her bill is being credited because they said she has been on Limited Basic since the middle of April, and they would be charging the limited basic rate from now on. Not wanting her expanded channels to go away, she called Comcast immediately and tried to explain the situation, saying she wanted to continue to pay the expanded rate. They refused to believe she could be getting the expanded channels without a box and would not change her to expanded rate without her getting a box. She told the CSR that she was watching EB programs at that moment to no avail. They said "well, we will have to do an audit". I told her if and when they comes out to intall the trap (I assume that is what they mean by "audit") she explain the situation to the tech. Strange world...

The opposite has happened to my sister-in-law in San Mateo. She has been getting Expanded Basic via clear QAM (no STB's) and was happily paying that rate. Out of the blue Comcast sends her a notice that her bill is being credited because they said she has been on Limited Basic since the middle of April, and they would be charging the limited basic rate from now on. Not wanting her expanded channels to go away, she called Comcast immediately and tried to explain the situation, saying she wanted to continue to pay the expanded rate. They refused to believe she could be getting the expanded channels without a box and would not change her to expanded rate without her getting a box. She told the CSR that she was watching EB programs at that moment to no avail. They said "well, we will have to do an audit". I told her if and when they comes out to intall the trap (I assume that is what they mean by "audit") she explain the situation to the tech. Strange world...

This is fairly typical of customer service with Comcast, they really don't know much. They're either kept in the dark on purpose, or simply not trained adequately. Their basic function is to accept payment and/or sign you up for new service(s), anything else and you're pretty much wasting your time with them. It reminds me of the experience I had with them recently, trying to explain that I was, in fact and had been for many years, receiving local HD channels without one of their STBs - it just wouldn't compute with them.

My suggestion to your sister-in-law would be to do nothing unless the channels actually disappear, the Comcast people don't realize/understand that she is getting the Expanded Basic lineup via it's digital version.

This lack of knowledge at the CSR level also reminds me of a big splash made by Rick Germano a few years ago about how all this was going change, that customer service with Comcast was going to be re-vamped/improved, blah, blah.. that went really well didn't it? :rolleyes:

Starting Monday at midnight, Hispanic, International, Pay-Per-View, and HD channels will be changing.

i hope we can get new HD channels at midnight early monday morning.

Is your clock set misbehaving too?

In the current confusion, with Comcast shuffling QAM channels around, has anyone else noticed oddities like clocks being autoset by KQED PBS analog (Ch 9) being set to Eastern time?

- The NTSC tuner DVRs have the time being set automatically by KQED time
signal on 9, and the time is Eastern.

- The ATSC tuner DVRs have the time being set automatically by KQED time
signal on 9.1, and the time is correct.

This is the second time in two weeks it has happened. Is this quirk local to Comcast (Saratoga) or are others noticing it too?

Does anybody on here use the time signal from a station other than KQED to set the clocks on their devices?

ATT U-Verse recently hit my neighborhood with promises of 100+ HD channels and other features. While I like Comcast's HD clarity, I keep hearing tidbits of ATT's over-compression of channels. Has anyone tried or seen u-verse in action? How does it compare? Comcast is really lagging on adding HD channels so this ATT offer is very tempting.

Uverse is limited to 1 HD channel at a time, PQ is unimpressive, last I heard they devote 6mbits (MPEG4) for HD channels, and channel changing is quite slow since it's switched back at the box a block or two down the street from your house.

On the upside they do have whole-home DVR (record a show on one DVR, play it back on any other DVR in the house) and 18mbit internet service for around $35/mo, vs $45 for 6mbit on Comcost (actually $58 un-bundled...).

uverse is limited to 1 hd channel at a time
2

6mbit on comcost
12

I hear that u-verse compresses its HD channels to 6 or 7 mbits via the MPEG4 standard, but it might be lower. Interesting that Comcast is at 12, but perhaps that might change as new channels are added.

Interesting that Comcast is at 12, but perhaps that might change as new channels are added.

12 Mbps for Internet, not TV.

Not everywhere, I still have 6/1 (internet).

Still, even if/when it's upgraded to 12 that is still $10 more for less (than Uverse at 18), and if Uverse went to 2 HD channels that's (mostly) good news, though you know it comes at the cost of bit-rate.

I considered Uverse last year but in the end I didn't think it could compete with DirecTV/Dish, at least not in this market (no FTTH), I read a lot of complaints about HD picture quality, slow channel changing, etc... Of course if there's no commitment you could try it for a month and ditch it if you don't like it.

Thanks for the feedback walk, I'd hate to go through their 4-6 hour installation time and then have to revert back to Comcast. I definitely need to see it first hand to make my final decision. I'll see how easy or hard it is to see a demo.

Received a postcard today from Comcast to "act before June 28, 2009" to order your equipment to "continue enjoying channels 34-81." Doesn't list the actual cutoff date. I'm in San Francisco 94110 (and already have a DTA on my second TV).

Uverse is limited... and channel changing is quite slow since it's switched back at the box a block or two down the street from your house.

Actually, I've heard the opposite. I've heard the channel changing is quite fast on Uverse. With IPTV (Uverse), going roundtrip from your TV down the street and back only takes a few milliseconds if even that. Open a terminal shell or a DOS box and type "ping www.harvard.edu" and you'll see it takes less than 1/10th of a second to send a message roundtrip to the east coast and back.

With QAM (Comcast), retuning the PLL's and waiting for the demodulator to lock can take several seconds. I have one RF tuner/demodulator that takes over 5 seconds to lock one particular channel on Comcast, and then it takes another second or more to parse the PAT/PMT and buffer the MPEG decoder.

So now that the digital transition came and went, and Comcast is introducing DTAs in the Bay Area, when will cities such as Fremont, Newark, etc get DOCSIS 3.0? I thought it was going to happen soon after the digitial transition and/or introduction of DTAs.

Wow. I got a COMCAST postcard saying I need to get a new box of some kind by this sunday. Oddly enough they don't mention it on my monthly bill. Checked their website and it says:

"Customers without an existing digital set-top box can receive 1 standard digital set-top box and up to 2 digital adapters at no additional monthly service cost."

I've got Expanded Basic service and no current boxes. I take it I want to use their standard digital set-top box for live watching and the 2 digital adapters for the DVR and VCRs ?

This is weird. Are all the old TVs' QAM tuners obsolete now ? Just in time for all the people who bought new sets in the last six months. They say without their box you'd need a new TV:

"New digital TV (Tru2Way, enabled with CableCARD), which you’ll need to purchase at a local retailer."

Hmm.. the plot thickens. I notice that I have another variety of COMCAST postcard here. This one says I can have a free upgrade to their Digital Starter package. Just an 800 number, no mention of website info. Is this the basic Digital Tier ? Are they saying you can get Basic, Expanded Basic, and Digital for the cost of Expanded Basic ? Dubious, but you wonder if it's related to the other equipment issue of which there's no mention. Then again, it says equipment and installation extra. Maybe they were trying to rent the box before they gave it away ?

Somehow it's vaguely annoying that I have a monthly bill with no mention of these things; one postcard that says I need free equipment that they don't just send you; and one postcard that offers free digital (maybe).

Sorry, didn't mean to run on; but it's just so COMCASTIC.

Somehow it's vaguely annoying that I have a monthly bill with no mention of these things; one postcard that says I need free equipment that they don't just send you; and one postcard that offers free digital (maybe).

Sorry, didn't mean to run on; but it's just so COMCASTIC.

Everyone's going all-digital - cell phones, off air TV, music players, and cable tv to name a few.

They'll send you the free equipment or you can pick it up. Digital starter is the carrot offered for the normal price of expanded basic.

Are all the old TVs' QAM tuners obsolete now ?No. They'll continue to play Comcast's clear QAM channels just as they have always done. The advantage of the STB is that it deciphers the physical channel/subchannel designations into Comcast's numbering scheme for you.

So now that the digital transition came and went, and Comcast is introducing DTAs in the Bay Area, when will cities such as Fremont, Newark, etc get DOCSIS 3.0? I thought it was going to happen soon after the digitial transition and/or introduction of DTAs.



July 28th is supposed to be the launch date for the rest of the east bay ( Oakland, Richmond, Hayward, Fremont, etc) as well as the north bay for DOCIS 3.0

This is a bit off topic. I've been getting a lot of disconnections for the past week for Comcast HSI, mostly at night. Anyone else having the same problem?

I'm in Fremont, Monday night I lost the HSI connection... ~12am, other than that no problem.

re: recent comcast hd channel shuffling.... I've now lost fox and cbs hd from clear qam using my samsung (haven't tried checking on computer yet), the only clear qam hd I'm seeing is channel 11 (KNTV), what hd clear qam channels are you guys seeing now?

This is a bit off topic. I've been getting a lot of disconnections for the past week for Comcast HSI, mostly at night. Anyone else having the same problem?Ya, they took my internet connection down at midnight last night for almost 2 hours. Just the data side not the cable. Thanks for the notice comcast (there was none, not even a note about any local outage on their web page). They could have at least emailed a heads up on what was obviously an internally scheduled outage.

They have no trouble spamming my mailbox about "the World of more" and "fastest fast coming" after all...

After about 3 months of calling and complaining about HSI being down all the time they sent me a coupon for $10. Of course I pay my bill automatically so I have no way to use it but... might be worth a shot, if $10 is worth a couple hours on the phone to you...

Ya, they took my internet connection down at midnight last night for almost 2 hours. Just the data side not the cable. Thanks for the notice comcast (there was none, not even a note about any local outage on their web page). They could have at least emailed a heads up on what was obviously an internally scheduled outage.

They have no trouble spamming my mailbox about "the World of more" and "fastest fast coming" after all...

I got an automated message from Comcast last week about potential outages over the weekend between midnight and 6:00am. Not sure if it actually happened.

July 28th is supposed to be the launch date for the rest of the east bay ( Oakland, Richmond, Hayward, Fremont, etc) as well as the north bay for DOCIS 3.0

Thanks, this is good to hear.

July 28th is supposed to be the launch date for the rest of the east bay ( Oakland, Richmond, Hayward, Fremont, etc) as well as the north bay for DOCIS 3.0I wonder if this means we'll finally at that point be getting the "new" HD channels announced last Nov. My tivo has been taunting me since Jan. with travel-hd in the guide but no such channel is being transmitted here (comcast claimed this is due to bandwidth limitations).

I'm planning on getting a Tivo HD, and live in Alameda. Does Comcast any SDV channels in place now or planned for the near future? Are there any plans to release an SDV dongle?

I'm planning on getting a Tivo HD, and live in Alameda. Does Comcast any SDV channels in place now or planned for the near future? Are there any plans to release an SDV dongle?No SDV is deployed in SF/BA currently. I don't think they have any immediate plans to deploy SDV. In any case I would not worry about SDV since there are working SDV Tuning Adapters (dongle) deployed by other cable providers (see thread here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=357703)).

This is a bit off topic. I've been getting a lot of disconnections for the past week for Comcast HSI, mostly at night. Anyone else having the same problem?

I complained about my HSI about a month ago. My upstream keeps spiking around 10dB, modulation keeps changing between QAM16 and QAM64 and the modem resets then the signal normalizes in a couple of sec and it returns. Funny thing was I got a tech who was a nice guy and reported it as a line problem. The signal became PERFECT after he left, but... for only 4-5 days :( Dunno wtf they are doing over there but its getting annoying. The tech left his number, I'm planning to call him tomorrow. Do you guys know if I can schedule an appointment through him or can I call and ask for him?

I just realized that when I lived in Hayward, I had more HD channels compared to what I have in Fremont.

The HD channels Fremont is missing:
731 SpeedHD
733 BravoHD
745 QVC HD
749 Hallmark HD
753 E!HD
755 Travel HD
760 Fox News HD
761 Fox Business HD
762 CNBC HD
766 Toon HD
775 Encore HD

What gives?

I just realized that when I lived in Hayward, I had more HD channels compared to what I have in Fremont.

The HD channels Fremont is missing:
731 SpeedHD
733 BravoHD
745 QVC HD
749 Hallmark HD
753 E!HD
755 Travel HD
760 Fox News HD
761 Fox Business HD
762 CNBC HD
766 Toon HD
775 Encore HD

What gives?

The new channels added late last year were only added in some areas, and Fremont wasn't one of them. They'll hopefully be added if the digital transition in Fremont is ever finished, but all the published dates have passed.

The new channels added late last year were only added in some areas, and Fremont wasn't one of them. They'll hopefully be added if the digital transition in Fremont is ever finished, but all the published dates have passed.

I'm in Berkeley. STILL waiting to get those channels.

I'm in Berkeley. STILL waiting to get those channels.

Dumb question as I'm new to this thread and confess I have not read all 350+ pages of previous posts, nor the 300+ pages of previous posts from the parent thread. :)

Are you getting (or expecting) those channels with just a DCT or is there a CableCARD involved?

thx
mp
---
http://mpsharp.com

I'm in Berkeley. STILL waiting to get those channels.

Dont even get me started on the Monterey/Santa Cruz DMA. Thank goodness for Dish.

I complained about my HSI about a month ago. My upstream keeps spiking around 10dB, modulation keeps changing between QAM16 and QAM64 and the modem resets then the signal normalizes in a couple of sec and it returns. Funny thing was I got a tech who was a nice guy and reported it as a line problem. The signal became PERFECT after he left, but... for only 4-5 days :( Dunno wtf they are doing over there but its getting annoying. The tech left his number, I'm planning to call him tomorrow. Do you guys know if I can schedule an appointment through him or can I call and ask for him?

I see the same issues. I had two techs come over, and the last one replaced the modem. I still see this happening from time to time. The worst part is that sometimes my modem does not "sync" up and has to be power cycled for it to return to normal operation.

I am trying to help a family memember out that lives in San Leandro. They like to watch CSN for the A's games and recently bought a new HDTV. With the QAM tuner we get all the channels and some in HD but no channel 89 Comcast Sports Network. They get it on the other tv's that have a receiver but we don't want to use the receivers because then no HD (with having to pay more $$). Is it there just mapped to a different channel or what? They get lots of channnels in the range 80 and 100 but they are all sub channels like 89-10 and so on.
Also could someone please provide a list of all channels from 2 to 130 with all sub channels included?

July 28th is supposed to be the launch date for the rest of the east bay ( Oakland, Richmond, Hayward, Fremont, etc) as well as the north bay for DOCIS 3.0

Does this include Solano County too? Also I heard that customers are supposed to get an increase in speed. What will they be upgraded to?

Does this include Solano County too? Also I heard that customers are supposed to get an increase in speed. What will they be upgraded to?

Yes that does include Solano County as well. Customers who currently have the 6Mbps servcice will be automatically upgraded to 12Mbps once DOCIS 3.0 is launched in those areas

Yes that does include Solano County as well. Customers who currently have the 6Mbps servcice will be automatically upgraded to 12Mbps once DOCIS 3.0 is launched in those areas

What about the customers who suscribe to 16Mbps?

What about the customers who suscribe to 16Mbps?

I saw what happens to those on 16/2 on dsl reports as someone posted the letter they got on on those forums. You'll get a letter saying the upgrade is happening soon and for the same price as you pay now, you can get 22/5. But the letter goes on to say that you'll need the new modem and thus you'll need to swap out modems. It also says that your current tier is history so you can't just do nothing and need to do something to avoid interruption in service. Not sure if the letter tells you that you can downgrade to 12/2, but of course you can and keep your old modem.

The new channels added late last year were only added in some areas, and Fremont wasn't one of them. They'll hopefully be added if the digital transition in Fremont is ever finished, but all the published dates have passed.

I still get no sense that Comcast considers HD programming to be a priority in any way. The company likes to tease its "World of More" but it really does seem like the focus is on Docis 3.0 with faster Internet speed and the phone service. Comcast, long ago, appeared to forget that its original primary mission was cable television. I doubt that the Vallejo-Benicia area will see any substantial HD channel additions before 2010 especially with Comcast still pushing ads claiming that its VOD HD offerings are MUCH better than the other services. Bollocks! Without getting into the typical picture quality issues, U-verse is up to 95 HD channels and Direct is at least up to that if not more. VOD's HD choices are still mediocre at best. And please O defenders of everything Comcast, don't reply with "well of you don't like it, change providers". That's not the point of this. It's Comcast's promise of all things great with no time lines that it can ever be held to.

So I noticed today that San Francisco Comcast is still broadcasting analog stations. Anyone know when the real cutoff date is?

So I noticed today that San Francisco Comcast is still broadcasting analog stations. Anyone know when the real cutoff date is?

The only channels I get in analog are the basic channels 1-30.

I am trying to help a family memember out that lives in San Leandro. They like to watch CSN for the A's games and recently bought a new HDTV. With the QAM tuner we get all the channels and some in HD but no channel 89 Comcast Sports Network. They get it on the other tv's that have a receiver but we don't want to use the receivers because then no HD (with having to pay more $$). Is it there just mapped to a different channel or what? They get lots of channnels in the range 80 and 100 but they are all sub channels like 89-10 and so on.
Also could someone please provide a list of all channels from 2 to 130 with all sub channels included?

Comcast Sports Channel is a digital channel, so it would not be channel 89 on your QAM tuner. You have to perform a channel scan on that new HDTV to find it. Here in Sunnyvale, it's at 42-6, but it could be somewhere else for San Leandro. Best is to find it from this website:

http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/channels_us

I just realized that when I lived in Hayward, I had more HD channels compared to what I have in Fremont.

The HD channels Fremont is missing:
731 SpeedHD
733 BravoHD
745 QVC HD
749 Hallmark HD
753 E!HD
755 Travel HD
760 Fox News HD
761 Fox Business HD
762 CNBC HD
766 Toon HD
775 Encore HD

What gives?

Anyone know whether the new HD channels are available in San Mateo (94403) yet? They're listed on the channel lineup for my address on the Comcast website, but I'm not receiving them. I've talked to three reps at Comcast, two said I should be getting them (but couldn't figure out why I'm not) and the last said no they're not on in my area. Before I waste anymore time talking to Comcast, what's the real story?

So I noticed today that San Francisco Comcast is still broadcasting analog stations. Anyone know when the real cutoff date is?
Are you talking about Limited Basic or Expanded Basic channels? I've seen no announcement from Comcast that they have any intention of dropping their analog versions of local stations and the other channels in the Limited Basic package. I'm sure it will happen eventually, but not in the foreseeable future.


Patty

Are you talking about Limited Basic or Expanded Basic channels? I've seen no announcement from Comcast that they have any intention of dropping their analog versions of local stations and the other channels in the Limited Basic package. I'm sure it will happen eventually, but not in the foreseeable future.


Patty

The last word I heard was in 3 years all analog will be gone and Comcast will be all digital but as with everything that could change ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

The last word I heard was in 3 years all analog will be gone and Comcast will be all digital but as with everything that could change ;)

Right, as I said, Comcast will eventually go all-digital. But "mpatnode" was talking about what's happening now, so I was seeking clarification from him/her about which stations he/she is still seeing in analog. If it's 2-35, that's no surprise, because they'll be analog for some time yet. (Perhaps three years as you say, unless Comcast decides to get around the federal mandate by giving everyone converters.)


Patty

Seems to me that one of the reasons that Extended Basic is going digital is to use that space on some of the non-updated systems to provide some of the missing HD channels in those areas. But it also means that those in the updated areas might have even more HD content available.

Without getting into the typical picture quality issues, U-verse is up to 95 HD channels and Direct is at least up to that if not more. VOD's HD choices are still mediocre at best.Well, there's a screen that shows this stuff on DirecTV: 828 channels, I get 643 (I have the 2nd to highest tier package, about $70/mo, but not MLB or the sports packages), my favorites list has 100 channels in it, I just did a quick count of about 30 that are not HD. So 70 HD channels, and if you only count HBO, Cinemax, Starz (I have Showtime) that's at least another 15 HD channels. If you count all the RSNs there are about 30 more HD channels. I'd say 115-120 HD channels is pretty close.

They have VOD too, and lots of it is HD, but I guess since it's not delivered via the service itself Comast doesn't have to count it in their "we got more HD" BS ads? :cool: Though there are some PPV movies and stuff that are downloaded thru the dish and saved to special section of the DVR..

Comcast is now offering their $99/month for two years HD Triple Play package, with a $100 cash-back. HBO is included, and they also give you a free HD DVR for 6 months. Seems like a really good deal. Called them, and they said only new customers can get this. But they offered me an alternative that is pretty nice: $20 for HSI and $40 for Digital Starter with HBO, per month, locked in for 12 months. Digital voice is another $20/month for 12 months. Think this is good?

Right, as I said, Comcast will eventually go all-digital. But "mpatnode" was talking about what's happening now, so I was seeking clarification from him/her about which stations he/she is still seeing in analog. If it's 2-35, that's no surprise, because they'll be analog for some time yet. (Perhaps three years as you say, unless Comcast decides to get around the federal mandate by giving everyone converters.)
Patty

Actually, I'm still getting 2-80 with the cable plugged directly into my analog TV (Comedy Central, SciFi, etc..). Is there something they need to do on the head-end? I'm now seeing 22 Clear QCAM channels on my DCTs (up previously from 15). I'm waiting to see if 36-80 end up encrypted or not.

--
mp (http://mpsharp.com)

The 2-year deal would be good but they need to include the DVR for that whole time or let you plug in your own Tivo without that ridiculous monthly DVR fee (it's like $10 or even more for that HORRIBLE DVR?).

Does anyone have an idea of how much compression Comcast is applying to the expanded basic channels like ESPN2?

Some pixelation on cars at NASCAR race speeds is to be expected, but a tennis player?

We've been watching Wimbledon on both the QAM channels it is being broadcast on, one is at 84.9 and the other at 42.8 appeared a couple of weeks ago. Pixelation is just as bad on both channels.

To make sure it was not my imagination, watched some of last year's final that was recorded from 39 ESPN2 analog, and it was far superior.

(Perhaps three years as you say, unless Comcast decides to get around the federal mandate by giving everyone converters.)

Which "federal mandate" are you talking about? Can you please provide a reference to this mandate?

Google cable analog 2012

I found this quite odd - back in the separable security debate, wasn't the rule no new integrated security devices deployed unless the system was 100% digital? Then Uncle Charley says cable must pipe analog . . :rolleyes:

Which "federal mandate" are you talking about? Can you please provide a reference to this mandate?

http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2007/09/fcc-to-cable-you-must-support-analog-tvs-until-2012.ars

Cue the scary music. According to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, "If the cable companies had their way, you, your mother and father, or your next door neighbor could go to sleep one night after watching their favorite channel and wake up the next morning to a dark fuzzy screen."

Martin's talking about the digital TV transition that will happen in February 2009. While the federal government has worked out a plan to help buy digital-to-analog converter boxes for Americans who rely on over-the-air broadcasts and still have analog TV sets, the rules for cable operators were not finalized until yesterday. The FCC voted 5-0 to require that cable operators must continue to make all local broadcasts available to their users, even those with analog televisions.

Does anyone have an idea of how much compression Comcast is applying to the expanded basic channels like ESPN2?

Running "mediainfo" on a recent recording of "The Nanny" from channel NikP (std def digital channel) resulted in the output shown below A video bitrate of 1.9kbits/second is "OK" but not great for standard definition material. When I use to digitize analog channels using a Hauppauge PVR-150 tunner and mythtv I would set the bit rate to 3.3kbits/second.

Marc


General
ID : 27FB
Format : MPEG-TS
File size : 543 MiB
Duration : 32mn 35s
Overall bit rate : 2,328 Kbps

Video
ID : 2624 (0xA40)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Duration : 32mn 35s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 1,910 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 15.0 Mbps
Width : 528 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4/3
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.252
Stream size : 445 MiB (82%)

Audio #1
ID : 2625 (0xA41)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Duration : 32mn 36s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Video delay : -790ms
Stream size : 44.8 MiB (8%)
Language : English

Audio #2
ID : 2626 (0xA42)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Duration : 32mn 36s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 64.0 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Channel positions : C
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Video delay : -694ms
Stream size : 14.9 MiB (3%)
Language : Spanish

The 2-year deal would be good but they need to include the DVR for that whole time or let you plug in your own Tivo without that ridiculous monthly DVR fee (it's like $10 or even more for that HORRIBLE DVR?).

The real price of the DVR per month is more like $40 because they won't let you have it unless you have Extended Basic. IOW, if you just wanted Limited Basic and 2 or 3 Premium channels you still can't have the DVR.

Ok Ill ask the obvious ques of the day, excuse if it was covered


MSNBC began HD broadcast today for some providers, when on COMCAST?

Mike

The real price of the DVR per month is more like $40 because they won't let you have it unless you have Extended Basic. IOW, if you just wanted Limited Basic and 2 or 3 Premium channels you still can't have the DVR.SD DVR or HD? The HD-DVR is $15.95, for the first one. You do need a Digital package.
Each additional HD-DVR after the 1st is another $6.99 for "add'l outlet fee" - or $22.94/mo.

With the promos they run periodically the prices for Comcast really aren't that bad (though the equipment and service still lacks...) so it definitely pays to call and threaten to cancel every year or so...

MSNBC began HD broadcast today for some providers, when on COMCAST?


The expression "When Pigs Fly" comes to mind:(

SD DVR or HD? The HD-DVR is $15.95, for the first one. You do need a Digital package.
Each additional HD-DVR after the 1st is another $6.99 for "add'l outlet fee" - or $22.94/mo.

With the promos they run periodically the prices for Comcast really aren't that bad (though the equipment and service still lacks...) so it definitely pays to call and threaten to cancel every year or so...

Unless they've changed policy you can't have an HD-DVR without also subscribing to Extended Basic so technically it is the HD-DVR fee plus the EB subscription fee. It was even mentioned here if you drop Extended Basic you have to return the DVR. I don't know about SD-DVR since I've had HD services (first Dish then Comcast) for 8 years.

Comcast is now offering their $99/month for two years HD Triple Play package, with a $100 cash-back. HBO is included, and they also give you a free HD DVR for 6 months. Seems like a really good deal. Called them, and they said only new customers can get this. But they offered me an alternative that is pretty nice: $20 for HSI and $40 for Digital Starter with HBO, per month, locked in for 12 months. Digital voice is another $20/month for 12 months. Think this is good?

If your total bill for cable + HSI is $60, or even $60 + 15.95 for an HD-DVR, that's a really good deal. I want that deal.

let me guess, on wednesday, MSNBC on Channel 763?

so the missing channels in my area are:

713 KOFY-HD
718 KSTS-HD
731 SPEED HD
733 BRAVO HD
741 FX HD
745 QVC HD
749 Hallmark Movie Channel HD
753 E! HD
755 Travel Channel HD
760 Fox News Channel HD
761 Fox Business HD
762 CNBC HD
763 MSNBC HD
766 Cartoon Network HD
775 Encore HD

i am waiting for the new HD channels in my area. i will let me know when the new HD channels are available in my area.

Please Call Comcast at 1-800-945-2288

The 2-year deal would be good but they need to include the DVR for that whole time or let you plug in your own Tivo without that ridiculous monthly DVR fee (it's like $10 or even more for that HORRIBLE DVR?).

I have a TiVOHD, and I don't pay any outlet fees.

Comcast is now offering their $99/month for two years HD Triple Play package, with a $100 cash-back. HBO is included, and they also give you a free HD DVR for 6 months. Seems like a really good deal. Called them, and they said only new customers can get this. But they offered me an alternative that is pretty nice: $20 for HSI and $40 for Digital Starter with HBO, per month, locked in for 12 months. Digital voice is another $20/month for 12 months. Think this is good?

I forgot to ask, with this alternative they offered you, are you locked into a 2 yr contract?

Those Ben Stein/Shaq commercials say in fine print that you must make a 2 year commitment (pause the commercial on the fine print if you don't believe me) to get the HD Triple Play with HBO deal for $99/month. This of course means Comcast is going the route of Dish/DirecTV in cutting deals in exchange for locking you into a contract with a termination fee.

I forgot to ask, with this alternative they offered you, are you locked into a 2 yr contract?

Those Ben Stein/Shaq commercials say in fine print that you must make a 2 year commitment (pause the commercial on the fine print if you don't believe me) to get the HD Triple Play with HBO deal for $99/month. This of course means Comcast is going the route of Dish/DirecTV in cutting deals in exchange for locking you into a contract with a termination fee.

No, there is no commitment. I only get the 12 month deal. And no cashback.

MSNBC began HD broadcast today for some providers, ...

Wow, Generous Electric and Micro$oft are going to do their relentless prison coverage in HD now ?

What up with that ?

let me guess, on wednesday, MSNBC on Channel 763?

No indication in Solano County of that. No messages on the cable boxes today. Have you heard anything or just hoping? Frankly, with MSNBC being the last cable news outlet to go HD, Comcast should have figured out a way to add it to most of their systems this week.

Comcast has pulled the plug on analog channels 35-79 here in fairfield. I think they did it yesterday. Does that mean DOCSIS 3.0 is close?

Comcast has pulled the plug on analog channels 35-79 here in fairfield. I think they did it yesterday. Does that mean DOCSIS 3.0 is close?
No such luck in Vallejo. The analogues are all still there.

No such luck in Vallejo. The analogues are all still there.

You're probably not too far off. Sometime this week maybe.

> A video bitrate of 1.9kbits/second is "OK" but not great
> for standard definition material. When I use to digitize
> analog channels using a Hauppauge PVR-150 tunner and
> mythtv I would set the bit rate to 3.3kbits/second.

No wonder a closeup of the players walking looks as if they are about to be transported (a la Star Trek). My wife will be relieved to know she can blame Comcast and not her eyesight for being unable to see the ball during play.

It's a pity our legislators were not smart enough to require that the conversion to digital resulted in equivalent or superior quality to analog.

Thanks for the numbers Marc.

Just noticed that The Sacramento PBS station KVIE is now on HD channel 710. It does appear to have typical PBS hd programming but for a good deal of the time, it mirrors KQED's schedule. OK but now get us MSNBC ASAP.

You're probably not too far off. Sometime this week maybe.

There was another poster here saying July 28th for other parts of the bay area who do not have docsis 3.0 yet. Here in Newark I noticed in our gym that the analogs from the 40's on up are off.

Just noticed that The Sacramento PBS station KVIE is now on HD channel 710. It does appear to have typical PBS hd programming but for a good deal of the time, it mirrors KQED's schedule. OK but now get us MSNBC ASAP.

What city are you in? Comcast is now giving the bay area Sac locals in HD?

What city are you in? Comcast is now giving the bay area Sac locals in HD?
Vallejo. KVIED just showed up today out of nowhere on 710.

Vallejo. KVIED just showed up today out of nowhere on 710.

Thas weird. I wonder if the rest of the bay area is getting the same thing.

no sac channels here in south bay (there is no ch 710 on my box)

Now that I've got Comcast Digital Cable, I'm happy to have Music Choice's "Sounds of the Seasons" channel back. DirecTV used to carry MC for its music channels, but a couple years ago they switched to XM, which only has seasonal music at Christmas.

Anyway, I just checked, and SotS is running Independence Day music already. It's on ch. 933 where I live; I imagine that Comcast has it on the same channel in most (all?) other places. Enjoy!


Patty

I went to the Comcast store today to exchange a non-HDMI cable box for my mom who just bought a Panasonic plasma. The woman behind the counter gave me a new, smaller cable box I haven't seen before. Going through the setup menus at home I noticed it had a "native" resolution setting that my DVR lacks.

When I asked the lady if they had new DVR's she said there is a new model, but they're not being distributed because of a problem. Does anyone know if there's any truth to this?

Thas weird. I wonder if the rest of the bay area is getting the same thing.

Mine popped up today without warning in Berkeley. STILL waiting for the rest of the "new" HD channels however.

I went to the Comcast store today to exchange a non-HDMI cable box for my mom who just bought a Panasonic plasma. The woman behind the counter gave me a new, smaller cable box I haven't seen before. Going through the setup menus at home I noticed it had a "native" resolution setting that my DVR lacks.

When I asked the lady if they had new DVR's she said there is a new model, but they're not being distributed because of a problem. Does anyone know if there's any truth to this?

They could be talking about the DCX3400... though that's totally wishfull thinking.

Checkout what other Comcast markets are getting - http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=424081&page=304

Here are the Sacramento HD Stations:
708 KCRA HD-NBC
710 KVIE HD-PBS
713 KXTV HD-ABC
714 KOVR HD-CBS
716 KMAX HD-CW
717 KTXL HD-FOX
718 KQCA HD-MNTV

I went to the Comcast store today to exchange a non-HDMI cable box for my mom who just bought a Panasonic plasma. The woman behind the counter gave me a new, smaller cable box I haven't seen before. Going through the setup menus at home I noticed it had a "native" resolution setting that my DVR lacks.

When I asked the lady if they had new DVR's she said there is a new model, but they're not being distributed because of a problem. Does anyone know if there's any truth to this?

The DCX3200 has been out for a month. A 3/4 size Moto HD box, no clock/channel display.

Fresh out of the oven is the Pace RNG110, smaller than the DCX3200 (about the size of an Arris EMTA). Pace always seems to have a few software features not found on Moto.

DCX3400? No comment. ;)

Now that I've got Comcast Digital Cable, I'm happy to have Music Choice's "Sounds of the Seasons" channel back. DirecTV used to carry MC for its music channels, but a couple years ago they switched to XM, which only has seasonal music at Christmas.

Few notice this - or the local radio stations. I keep pushing to get KPIG on the lineup.

> A video bitrate of 1.9kbits/second is "OK" but not great for standard definition material. When I use to digitize analog channels using a Hauppauge PVR-150 tunner and mythtv I would set the bit rate to 3.3kbits/second.

No wonder a closeup of the players walking looks as if they are about to be transported (a la Star Trek). My wife will be relieved to know she can blame Comcast and not her eyesight for being unable to see the ball during play.

Glad to help out. My own experience is that the std def digital channels look pretty good and better than the analogue versions did, but I never was able to get consistent quality on the analogue channels from Comcast at my house. If you're having a lot of pixelation and such you might want to call Comcast to check to see if you're having a signal quality problem.

Some additional notes:

1. When I did my encoding I encoded to a resolution of 720x480. Comcast is transmitting their digital in 528x480. The lower resolution does enable successful use of a lower bitrate, but the tradeoff is a slight loss in horizontal resolution.

2. I suspect that whoever is digitizing the source signal is using a better encoder than the one I had, so they can probably achieve better results than I could at any given bitrate.

3. Lower bitrates are less problematic in scenes that don't have a lot of motion. In faster moving scene with fast panning, as is common in sporting events, it will result in more loss of detail and more frequent pixelation.

4. I don't watch sports, so that may be why I've been pretty happy with the SD digital channels.

Marc

Here are the Sacramento HD Stations:
708 KCRA HD-NBC
710 KVIE HD-PBS
713 KXTV HD-ABC
714 KOVR HD-CBS
716 KMAX HD-CW
717 KTXL HD-FOX
718 KQCA HD-MNTV

I wonder since you guys are getting the sac locals in HD, will sac get bay area locals in HD.

The DCX3200 has been out for a month. A 3/4 size Moto HD box, no clock/channel display.

Fresh out of the oven is the Pace RNG110, smaller than the DCX3200 (about the size of an Arris EMTA). Pace always seems to have a few software features not found on Moto.

DCX3400? No comment. ;)
it has? i've been following the progress of the DCX models on various AVS threads and hadn't seen the san francisco market? i must be subscribing to the wrong threads- lord knows there are at least 20 different threads all devoted to comcast / motorola STB matters. i will call my local office and see if i can get one. my DCH 3416 was a slight improvement of the DCT's (smaller, better design, ability to adjust output resolution non the fly) although it did have some drawbacks (digital Std Def was noticeably worse picture quality compared to the old analog Std Def). supposedly the DCX models have a couple additional future-proof features eg MPEG4. and bigger hard drives. so i'm ready to try the "drive-in upgrade" trick again.

[EDIT] hey now wait a sec- the DCX3200 is not a DVR. that would be a *downgrade* in my case... guess i'll keep holding out for the 3400 about which barovelli has no comment and i'm not quite sure if that is because there's real information that should not be leaked or if it's just that the 3400 has been supposedly coming "Real Soon Now" for more than a year and yet never materializes...

They could be talking about the DCX3400... though that's totally wishfull thinking.

Checkout what other Comcast markets are getting - http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=424081&page=304

The DCX 3400 HD DVR's are actually being rolled out at the South Bay Customer Service Centers ( San Jose, Milpitas, Sunnyvale, Los Gatos). I think there is a known issue with the HDMI port on these boxes however so they're advising customers to just use Component cables for now. There's a shortage of HD DVR'S in the South Bay and the DCX 3400's are just being used there out of necessity. Hopefully once a fix is found for the HDMI glitch it will be rolled out to other parts of the Bay.

sweet. back to my drive-in plan. too bad they guard the service center phone numbers so closely or i could "let my fingers do the walking" and call to find out if they actually have any before i drive in there...

The DCX 3400 HD DVR's are actually being rolled out at the South Bay Customer Service Centers ... Hopefully once a fix is found for the HDMI glitch it will be rolled out to other parts of the Bay.

the fix may have been found according to this post http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16753398#post16753398 but of course the post goes on to remind that doesn't mean it will be pushed out immediately.

apparently this DCX situation is developing rapidly around here.

Just started Comcast back up, they got me with the $99 promotion.

Anyway, in Redwood Shores, and I notice the new stations (Toon HD, FOX News HD, etc.) still aren't there, even though according to Comcast's website I should get them. Using a TiVo, and the "test channels" function doesn't even show the new stations.

I haven't bothered to check if the analogs are gone, but right before I left in April, Comcast sent out notices that at the end of April they were going away.

I figured I would get them, since the 50 mb internet is available where I am at.

sweet. back to my drive-in plan. too bad they guard the service center phone numbers so closely or i could "let my fingers do the walking" and call to find out if they actually have any before i drive in there...

Yea those service center phone #'s are hard to come by, but let us know how it goes. I need another HD-DVR myself so I'm curious to see if these new DCX boxes are much of an upgrade over previous models

Yea those service center phone #'s are hard to come by, but let us know how it goes. I need another HD-DVR myself so I'm curious to see if these new DCX boxes are much of an upgrade over previous models

I'll take anything that doesn't give me a green stripe on the right side. I hate switching dot/dot and overscan when watching TV/BD

Looks like Comcast finally pulled the plug on extended basic in Palo Alto and EPA. Both of my homes had analog only, and they both lost channels 39-60 yesterday at around 5PM. And I thought they were bluffing :-)

My wife took our 3416 to the Concord Comcast location when it died two weeks ago. She was given a 6412, the same box we had before the 3416. She tried to return it to get a box with the bigger DRV, but was told that no 3416's or newer boxes were available. When the 3416 died, we got the green screen of death over the hdmi cable, and still have it with the 6412. I tried a new cable but that didn't fix it; will try different settings and switching the cable box off with the tv on to see if that helps. Watching via component cables in the meantime. I wonder if there was a poorly configured OS update that killed the box and brought on the green screen.

Looks like Comcast finally pulled the plug on extended basic in Palo Alto and EPA. Both of my homes had analog only, and they both lost channels 39-60 yesterday at around 5PM. And I thought they were bluffing :-)
on the stanford side of town, palo alto still has analog (above channel 39). maybe they are served by a different head end.

SotS is running Independence Day music already. It's on ch. 933 where I live; I imagine that Comcast has it on the same channel in most (all?) other places. Enjoy!

Few notice this - or the local radio stations.
Yeah, I know, that's why I like to remind people about the audio channels occasionally. Music Choice has some good stuff, and it's nice getting a bunch of FM stations cleanly.


Patty

Mine popped up today without warning in Berkeley. STILL waiting for the rest of the "new" HD channels however.
You'll probably be waiting for some time. Expanding HD just ain't a Comcast priority in these here parts.

Comcast is now offering their $99/month for two years HD Triple Play package, with a $100 cash-back. HBO is included, and they also give you a free HD DVR for 6 months. Seems like a really good deal. Called them, and they said only new customers can get this. But they offered me an alternative that is pretty nice: $20 for HSI and $40 for Digital Starter with HBO, per month, locked in for 12 months. Digital voice is another $20/month for 12 months. Think this is good?

After seeing this post I decided to see what Comcast had to offer in my area and it turns out it was well worth the trip. I was currently paying $71 per month for Limited Basic and 16/2 HSI. After leaving the office I now have Digital Starter(locked in for a year, although I may increase it to 2 yrs) for $29.95 and 16/2 HSI for $29.95 per month for a year. And HBO free, but I forget for how long - it's at least long enough to see the rest of True Blood anyway.

So, I now pay less per month - $60 vs $71 - and the only difference is I now have an extra 25 or so HD channels I didn't have when I walked into the office. Seems like a pretty good deal to me. :)

That was the easy part, I suspect the CableCARD part is not going to be so smooth. The CSR insisted that a tech had to come out and remove a trap. I explained to her that the trap had already been removed due to an unrelated problem but she insisted it was a different trap(I wasn't aware they ever used more than 1 per line...?). Anyway, I come home and sure enough, I'm getting signal readings for the newly acquired HD channels, but of course no audio or video, likely because the CCs haven't been authorized. If the channels were trapped, I wouldn't be getting any signal readings.

So the tech will come out Friday, see that there's nothing to be done, get confused, leave, and I'll still not have the channels. I'm going to have to change the tech visit to an in-home visit versus just the trap removal(which doesn't require subscriber to be present) and hope someone familiar with CableCARDS will show up.

You'll probably be waiting for some time. Expanding HD just ain't a Comcast priority in these here parts.

Cal,

I don't know where you get your info but check back here in about 2 weeks and see if you think the same way. ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

After seeing this post I decided to see what Comcast had to offer in my area and it turns out it was well worth the trip. I was currently paying $71 per month for Limited Basic and 16/2 HSI. After leaving the office I now have Digital Starter(locked in for a year, although I may increase it to 2 yrs) for $29.95 and 16/2 HSI for $29.95 per month for a year. And HBO free, but I forget for how long - it's at least long enough to see the rest of True Blood anyway.

So, I now pay less per month - $60 vs $71 - and the only difference is I now have an extra 25 or so HD channels I didn't have when I walked into the office. Seems like a pretty good deal to me. :)

That was the easy part, I suspect the CableCARD part is not going to be so smooth. The CSR insisted that a tech had to come out and remove a trap. I explained to her that the trap had already been removed due to an unrelated problem but she insisted it was a different trap(I wasn't aware they ever used more than 1 per line...?). Anyway, I come home and sure enough, I'm getting signal readings for the newly acquired HD channels, but of course no audio or video, likely because the CCs haven't been authorized. If the channels were trapped, I wouldn't be getting any signal readings.

So the tech will come out Friday, see that there's nothing to be done, get confused, leave, and I'll still not have the channels. I'm going to have to change the tech visit to an in-home visit versus just the trap removal(which doesn't require subscriber to be present) and hope someone familiar with CableCARDS will show up.

Not clear whether you have a CableCard already or not, and what equipment you have been using. For me, it was really easy. I had a Pioneer with a CableCard slot, and I have a M card in it. I got the TiVo last week, moved the CableCard to the TiVo, and the only channel I did not get was HBO. Called them, and they fixed it right away by addressing the CC again.

If you have the card already, perhaps you should just call technical support and have them authorize it for the new channels. I hate to wait for techs to come to the house.

Not clear whether you have a CableCard already or not, and what equipment you have been using. For me, it was really easy. I had a Pioneer with a CableCard slot, and I have a M card in it. I got the TiVo last week, moved the CableCard to the TiVo, and the only channel I did not get was HBO. Called them, and they fixed it right away by addressing the CC again.

If you have the card already, perhaps you should just call technical support and have them authorize it for the new channels. I hate to wait for techs to come to the house.

I already have the TiVo S3 and the the CableCARDS, had them since 2006. I have thought about calling and having the cards authorized for the new channels but the CSR at the office said the billing wouldn't start until Friday - the day the "trap" was going to be removed - so I'm not sure if calling tech support before then is going to accomplish much. I may try tonight anyway and see what happens.

I just noticed I have IONHD channel 711 here in South San Francisco.

Wanderance, I'm in Redwood Shores, and have the same issue with the extra channels that don't have any content. Using CableCard with HD TiVo. Those channels have been in the program guide for months and months. Every so often I contact Comcast to try to find out when they'll go live. They never answer the question.

Cal,

I don't know where you get your info but check back here in about 2 weeks and see if you think the same way. ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Mke, I hope that your right, believe me but my area always seems to lag behind others. Fairfield has already begun the WOM process but Vallejo never seems to quite get there in a timely way. What have you heard about additional HD channels in the short term (without compromising your source of course).

If you have the card already, perhaps you should just call technical support and have them authorize it for the new channels. I hate to wait for techs to come to the house.

After 1.5 hrs on the phone I finally got the Digital Starter package of channels working. It took a lot, getting them authorize the cards since their records show the trap had not been removed...long story... anyway, they're working now, but we couldn't get the HBO to work, spent almost 45 mins on that alone, tuning HBO brings up the CC page. Tech coming Friday.

BTW, the HBO is free for 1 year with this deal. :)

Mke, I hope that your right, believe me but my area always seems to lag behind others. Fairfield has already begun the WOM process but Vallejo never seems to quite get there in a timely way. What have you heard about additional HD channels in the short term (without compromising your source of course).
Cal,

Big changes, soon. I know that's really vague but I don't or can't release things until it's ok'd for me to do so, sorry. I just wanted you to know that they have not forgotten about adding new channels or other things that they said they were going to do. It's just certain things have to be done before that can happen and it's happening faster than even I thought it would happen. One of the big hold ups is finishing the analog conversion or completing a majority of the areas. I think they don't want to do more channel additions or system changes for just a select few areas but rather do it for as many areas as they can at the same time. Hopefully in a couple of weeks I can be more specific.

Laters,
Mikef5

Cal,

Big changes, soon. I know that's really vague but I don't or can't release things until it's ok'd for me to do so, sorry. I just wanted you to know that they have not forgotten about adding new channels or other things that they said they were going to do. It's just certain things have to be done before that can happen and it's happening faster than even I thought it would happen. One of the big hold ups is finishing the analog conversion or completing a majority of the areas. I think they don't want to do more channel additions or system changes for just a select few areas but rather do it for as many areas as they can at the same time. Hopefully in a couple of weeks I can be more specific.


Thanks Mike. I known that you can only so far publicly. I'm just hoping to see some additions by the end of July. MSNBC, MLB, NHL, Spike for starters and hopefully multiples of the premiums eventually. I look at Boston and now Detroit's new lineups and think that they are getting far more bang for the buck than I am. Right now that is very big issue in my home.

After 1.5 hrs on the phone I finally got the Digital Starter package of channels working. It took a lot, getting them authorize the cards since their records show the trap had not been removed...long story... anyway, they're working now, but we couldn't get the HBO to work, spent almost 45 mins on that alone, tuning HBO brings up the CC page. Tech coming Friday.

BTW, the HBO is free for 1 year with this deal. :)

Interesting that you also have trouble with authorizing HBO. I had the same problem, but it only took the tech 5 minutes to send the right address to fix it for me.

Interesting that you also have trouble with authorizing HBO. I had the same problem, but it only took the tech 5 minutes to send the right address to fix it for me.

Yes, I'll have to see what happens Friday, I'm sure it's an addressing issue as you've noted.

I'm pretty happy though, paying less than I was and getting a whole lot more, including HBO. Too good a deal to pass up. :)

Is it my imagination or has Comcast's HD PQ deteriorated in SF? Seems like there's a lot more compression-related degradation in the picture lately, especially on Fox.

Is it my imagination or has Comcast's HD PQ deteriorated in SF? Seems like there's a lot more compression-related degradation in the picture lately, especially on Fox.

I've noticed it too. So You Think You Can Dance looked terrible tonight on 702 during the fast moving dances with strobe lights... lots of macroblocking. It was also pretty bad last week. This week's recording took 5.5 GB on my Tivo. By comparison, two weeks ago the recording was 13.5 GB, and it was the same length. Any idea who is to blame? Comcast? KTVU? FOX?

I've noticed it too. So You Think You Can Dance looked terrible tonight on 702 during the fast moving dances with strobe lights... lots of macroblocking. It was also pretty bad last week. This week's recording took 5.5 GB on my Tivo. By comparison, two weeks ago the recording was 13.5 GB, and it was the same length. Any idea who is to blame? Comcast? KTVU? FOX?

I just registered so I could post this same question/problem. I'm in Cupertino. The problem started for me last week as well. The week before that was fine. I'm also watching and recording SYTYCD where the change in bit rate is very noticeable (lots of movement and flashing lights in the show).

The strange thing about this problem is that it's only/mostly happening at prime time. If you have a recorder that let's you view bit rates/file sizes you can see it for yourself. Record something that's FOX/KTVU HD before 8pm and then something between 8pm to 10pm and you can see the bit rate drop in half or so the second it hits 8pm. And it's not just a KTVU local content/FOX difference. I recorded the FOX MLB baseball game on the afternoon of the 27th and it was the usual ~7-8 GB/hour bit rate (17.7 Mbps video in this example).

Unfortunately Comcast CS is totally useless for me since they are incapable of comprehending that you can watch and record their clear QAM channels without the use of their boxes or CableCARDs. The guy I talked to tonight got upset at *me* cause I kept interrupting him when he kept saying there was no way I could be watching those channels the way I have been for the last 9 months or so.

I've been trying to get a hold of the Cupertino/Sunnyvale supervisor but so far he has been avoiding returning my calls (not surprising since I probably have some sort of red flag in my file now for calling in so much to CS) so I'm stymied at the moment. Customer Service won't send anybody out cause they obviously don't think it's their problem cause I'm not using their equipment. But it sounds like if more than just my area is affected this is something other than a local head end problem.

The strange thing about this problem is that it's only/mostly happening at prime time. If you have a recorder that let's you view bit rates/file sizes you can see it for yourself. Record something that's FOX/KTVU HD before 8pm and then something between 8pm to 10pm and you can see the bit rate drop in half or so the second it hits 8pm.

Almost sounds like an anti copying thing. No high quality copying our priceless prime time content.



Unfortunately Comcast CS is totally useless for me since they are incapable of comprehending that you can watch and record their clear QAM channels without the use of their boxes or CableCARDs. The guy I talked to tonight got upset at me cause I kept interrupting him when he kept saying there was no way I could be watching those channels the way I have been for the last 9 months or so.

You have to respect their hiring practices though. Those human resource people are professionals.

I've noticed it too. So You Think You Can Dance looked terrible tonight on 702 during the fast moving dances with strobe lights... lots of macroblocking. It was also pretty bad last week. This week's recording took 5.5 GB on my Tivo. By comparison, two weeks ago the recording was 13.5 GB, and it was the same length. Any idea who is to blame? Comcast? KTVU? FOX?

SYTYCD looked terrible on Dishnetwork last night as well. Macrocity every time the strobes went off.

Well, I guess it's mildly reassuring that it's not my imagination.

I've found that the local broadcasts (eg news) seem to be of better quality, but then again there aren't any strobes or fast movements. Interesting that Dish has the same issue. Sounds like the culprit might be the network feed.

Wanderance, I'm in Redwood Shores, and have the same issue with the extra channels that don't have any content. Using CableCard with HD TiVo. Those channels have been in the program guide for months and months. Every so often I contact Comcast to try to find out when they'll go live. They never answer the question.

Glad it isn't just me, I hate those types of problems. I am fine with the HD we are getting now, I am sure Comcast hasn't forgotten about us Redwood Shores folks.

As a side note, the contractors they have installing now adays are great. They got the CableCARDS up and running within minutes, had one bad one and the next day the guy was right on time with a replacement. He had that one up and running right away. I remember the days of TiVo CableCARD installs taking hours. Go Comcast!

Well, I guess it's mildly reassuring that it's not my imagination.

I've found that the local broadcasts (eg news) seem to be of better quality, but then again there aren't any strobes or fast movements. Interesting that Dish has the same issue. Sounds like the culprit might be the network feed.

Almost sounds like an anti copying thing. No high quality copying our priceless prime time content.




You have to respect their hiring practices though. Those human resource people are professionals.

I know the CSR's are easy targets but as I've stated on this board before, the fact that they know nothing about watching clear QAM isn't theit fault. Comcast trains them from day one to tell customers that the only way you can access HD is via a HD box or Cable Card. So again, they're just doing their jobs. Blame the company for not keeping their reps properly informed

Well, I guess it's mildly reassuring that it's not my imagination.

I've found that the local broadcasts (eg news) seem to be of better quality, but then again there aren't any strobes or fast movements. Interesting that Dish has the same issue. Sounds like the culprit might be the network feed.

also anyone who has both OTA and cable set up should have another way to compare the two.

(i have both, but i haven't done the comparison yet. if no one else chimes in i'll try to remember to have a look and report back)

Interesting that you also have trouble with authorizing HBO. I had the same problem, but it only took the tech 5 minutes to send the right address to fix it for me.

I also had a problem. Dropped Showtime (after it went back up to $19) and took advantage of the HBO promo price because I got hooked on True Blood during the free weekend and just finished watching season one on Blu-Ray. They got Showtime turned off but HBO wasn't there. Calling dropped me into the wrong section even with the right menu number (got the conversion box instructions recording) so used the online chat instead. Things were corrected in a few minutes. Still must be a lot of things that are done manually at Comcast.

True Blood is a little underwhelming for PQ and sound after watching it on Blu-Ray though. But still a great series. I liked Showtimes movie selection better but that is about to go away as some of those studios are starting a new network.

Cal,

Big changes, soon. I know that's really vague but I don't or can't release things until it's ok'd for me to do so, sorry. I just wanted you to know that they have not forgotten about adding new channels or other things that they said they were going to do. It's just certain things have to be done before that can happen and it's happening faster than even I thought it would happen. One of the big hold ups is finishing the analog conversion or completing a majority of the areas. I think they don't want to do more channel additions or system changes for just a select few areas but rather do it for as many areas as they can at the same time. Hopefully in a couple of weeks I can be more specific.

Laters,
Mikef5

Would the addition of all the HBO HD channels be among these changes? I see they're being added in the Seattle area next month along with some other channels.

They could be talking about the DCX3400... though that's totally wishfull thinking.

Checkout what other Comcast markets are getting - http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=424081&page=304

So are you telling us that there is finally a Motorola dual tuner HD-DVR that simply outputs native resolution?

yes.

actually we've known about this model for some time
(see http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/07/hands-on-with-motorola-dcx-series-mpeg-4-cable-stb/ )

but actually seeing any in the wild has been like 'waiting for godot'

it's taken so long that most people have already written off this box and assumed that comcast will go with another vendor like panasonic when they finally get serious about MPEG4 .

To continue with the DCX sub-topic, I have in my hands right now my very "own" DCX3400. I never thought this day would arrive. Drove into Sunnyvale office this morning and was turned away. I wasn't exactly certain that the person who was claiming there weren't any available actually understood what I wanted, but I took "no" for an answer and drove all the way to Foster City after work to try my luck again. I was informed that they had exactly one left and I got it. I have the feeling they are starting to get handfuls of these things in at random intervals so I doubt I got the very last one of all time, but still it was a nice to be able to give a little fist pump and say "YESSSss" ...

also anyone who has both OTA and cable set up should have another way to compare the two.

(i have both, but i haven't done the comparison yet. if no one else chimes in i'll try to remember to have a look and report back)

So You Think You Dance is on at 9pm tonight. Bones is on before it but it's harder to compare since there usually aren't as many hard to encode scenes like SYTYCD has.

Is Comcast taking AVS members suggestions seriously and adding logical channel numbers so that clear QAM TVs can find stations? It looks like they may be making a stab at it.

I rescanned my cable in Cupertino this afternoon and found several channels listed in the 200s. Interesting since I don't have a cable card and just use clear QAM.

My Sony KDS-55WF655 found clear channels it added as

202.1 - KTVU
204.1 - KRON
205.1 - KPIX (do I detect a pattern here?)
207.1 - KGO
209.1 - KQED
220.1 - KOFY
244.1 - KBCW

All of these are digital SD signals and they are reporting their call signs.

Interesting.

Greg Buchanan

Well, I guess it's mildly reassuring that it's not my imagination.

I've found that the local broadcasts (eg news) seem to be of better quality, but then again there aren't any strobes or fast movements. Interesting that Dish has the same issue. Sounds like the culprit might be the network feed.
The local KTVU HD programming (local news, Seinfeld, etc.) is at around 12 Mbps for video on Comcast right now. FOX HD prime time through KTVU used to be at about 16 Mbps for video but is currently at around 8 Mbps or half what it was before.

Anyone know the logic behind putting a HD channel near FM radio frequency range? lol TNT-HD here is located @ 99Mhz and signal quality is degraded very often... Its not that bad but I just didn't see the logic behind it.

Is Comcast taking AVS members suggestions seriously and adding logical channel numbers so that clear QAM TVs can find stations? It looks like they may be making a stab at it.

I rescanned my cable in Cupertino this afternoon and found several channels listed in the 200s. Interesting since I don't have a cable card and just use clear QAM.

My Sony KDS-55WF655 found clear channels it added as

202.1 - KTVU
204.1 - KRON
205.1 - KPIX (do I detect a pattern here?)
207.1 - KGO
209.1 - KQED
220.1 - KOFY
244.1 - KBCW

All of these are digital SD signals and they are reporting their call signs.

Interesting.

Greg Buchanan

It's the exact same thing for me here in Fairfield except it's for the Sacto locals. Wonder why Comcast wont do this for all the expanded basic channels on QAM.
203-1-KCRA
206-1-KVIE
210-1-KXTV
213-1-KOVR
219-1-KUVS
229-1-ION
231-1-KMAX
240-1-KTXL
258-1-KQCA
264-1-KTFK

So You Think You Dance is on at 9pm tonight. Bones is on before it but it's harder to compare since there usually aren't as many hard to encode scenes like SYTYCD has.
switching back and forth between the two as i type this: OTA also looks like hell.

switching back and forth between the two as i type this: OTA also looks like hell.

On Comcast, SYTYCD looked awful during high motion or flashing light sequences with some of the worst macroblocking that I've seen in quite awhile. Even my wife clearly saw it and she's normally not that critical.

On Comcast, SYTYCD looked awful during high motion or flashing light sequences with some of the worst macroblocking that I've seen in quite awhile. Even my wife clearly saw it and she's normally not that critical.

Cal,

The problem was seen on OTA also. I have an OTA setup and I'm able to do a split screen with my old Panasonic so I can see both OTA and cable at the same time. I noticed that it was especially bad on Bones and SYTYCD, on both OTA and cable. This doesn't seem to be a Comcast problem but a KTVU problem.

Laters,
Mikef5

that's exactly what i saw also, but all i can say is i also saw it coming from sutro tower not just comcast.

switching back and forth between the two as i type this: OTA also looks like hell.
Thanks for doing the comparison stretch437 and Mikef5.

Thanks for doing the comparison stretch437 and Mikef5.

Yes, thanks for comparing. I sent a polite email to KTVU's engineering dept at engineering@ktvu.com describing the problem and referencing this thread. I haven't heard a response yet, but I suggest those who care about this do the same so that way they know more people would like this problem fixed.

My clear QAM tuner has been identifying the call signs for the local hidef channels for over a year. It actually identifies both the callsign and the OTA channel number (ie, 2.1, 3.1, etc.). My understanding is that there is a FCC regulation that requires them to do this for the local OTAs.

Marc

Edited on 7/23, removed incorrect reference to "live well" sharing bandwidth on KTVU.

I thought I would address two different questions that came up on this thread:

1. KTVU started transmitting a second hidef channel called something like "live well" 5-6 weeks ago. To do this they have split their available bandwidth across LiveWell and Fox, effectively cutting the hidef bitrate in half. This is not a Comcast issue.



Marc

Live Well is a second Hi Def channel on KGO, channel 7.2 Initially the main channel looked terrible. They ramped down the bits on 7.2 and 7.1 looks good now. KTVU has a subchannel 2.2 but it is not HD.

Re the new DCX dvr's: is the the PQ delivered them any better than via the DCH's?

not really. the only reason to be excited about them is the "native" resolution feature (and larger hard drive).

the native resolution feature does relate to picture quality in a way, but i'm guessing only people with really large screens and/or video processors will notice the difference between having the STB perform scaling/deinterlacing versus having your other (presumably more expensive) gear do it. with the previous models you had to switch resolutions manually which required powering off the box (DCT models) , a total showstopper, or adjusting it on the fly (DCH models) with the front panel (or a special remote code) , a big improvement, but still a major annoyance.

this totally solves that, but otherwise PQ is equivalent to the previous models in every other imaginable way as far as i can tell.

i expect it will be a long time before the DCX boxes have to do any MPEG4 decoding, so that new "feature" seems to be a non-issue for now.

not really. the only reason to be excited about them is the "native" resolution feature (and larger hard drive).

the native resolution feature does relate to picture quality in a way, but i'm guessing only people with really large screens and/or video processors will notice the difference between having the STB perform scaling/deinterlacing versus having your other (presumably more expensive) gear do it. with the previous models you had to switch resolutions manually which required powering off the box (DCT models) , a total showstopper, or adjusting it on the fly (DCH models) with the front panel (or a special remote code) , a big improvement, but still a major annoyance.

this totally solves that, but otherwise PQ is equivalent to the previous models in every other imaginable way as far as i can tell.

i expect it will be a long time before the DCX boxes have to do any MPEG4 decoding, so that new "feature" seems to be a non-issue for now.

Thanks again. I do have a 126" diag screen (with RS20 pj), so 'native resolution' is certainly something I would like to try, letting the pj to the conversion to 1080p. My non videophile eyes probably won't be able to see much diff, though, but will be interesting to see.

Geez, Seattle is getting 64 more HD channels on August 5,for a total of 101 with pretty much every HD outlet that any us could want. We can dream can't we?

Maybe Seattle had fewer upgrades to do. Extended Basic as analog goes away here on the 22nd. We'll see what happens after that. I wonder if we'll see cable company (not necessarily Comcast but sub-contractors) running around removing trap filters?

I'm dropping in from the PacNW because my inlaws have a question and, well, they're a little older and aren't able to fully explain what's going on up in Napa.

Is it the standard 'you're gonna need a cable box (or cable card) for everything' switch-out from Comcast, or is the coax into the TV still going to work?

I'm dropping in from the PacNW because my inlaws have a question and, well, they're a little older and aren't able to fully explain what's going on up in Napa.

Is it the standard 'you're gonna need a cable box (or cable card) for everything' switch-out from Comcast, or is the coax into the TV still going to work?

Basic barebones basic analog will remain for awhile. Everything else needs a box.

Basic barebones basic analog will remain for awhile. Everything else needs a box.Huh? :confused:

Please explain further. On my DTV, the HD locals show up under their familiar OTA virtual channel numbers and the other locals are showing up, albeit under their physical channel numbers that aren't related to any published list. Maybe you need to define "needs"? :D

I see KNTV is still sending bad guide data to Tribune, they've got the Giant's game listed as HD. :p

I'm dropping in from the PacNW because my inlaws have a question and, well, they're a little older and aren't able to fully explain what's going on up in Napa.

Is it the standard 'you're gonna need a cable box (or cable card) for everything' switch-out from Comcast, or is the coax into the TV still going to work?

Jay, do your inlaws have an analog or digital television? If analog, do they have a Basic or Extended Basic subscription? If they have Extended Basic, they'll need a cable box (free from Comcast) to continue getting stations above channel 34. The cable feed going straight into the TV will still give them channels 2-34 (Basic analog stations--locals and a few others). I'm actually doing that with one of my TVs. (I have one bad DTA that I haven't gotten around to taking back to Comcast yet.)

If they have a digital TV, they'll be able to get the "clear QAM" channels without a box. The folks here who are doing that can explain which channels those are, although I know that they include the local stations.


Patty

I see talk of new DCX boxes. Is there any info about a non-DVR model based on this line? I don't want/need the DVR functionality but I'm really interested in the native res pass-through. I'm on a DCH model now and have it just set at 1080i but I'd prefer to let my TV do the up-conversion to 1080p. The 2:3 pulldown occasionally doesn't initialize correctly on my set and that wouldn't be a problem if I could just pass the native signal through(cause changing input resolution fixes it). Any info would be appreciated! Thank you.

I see talk of new DCX boxes. Is there any info about a non-DVR model based on this line? I don't want/need the DVR functionality but I'm really interested in the native res pass-through.

i believe the DCX3200 is the non-DVR version. when i went in to foster city that's what they gave me at first. (it's like half the size of the 3400- pretty easy to spot the difference).

i'm pretty sure it does native res pass-through as well.

One thing that helps Seattle is that they have FIOS and they are being very aggresive there. So Comcast has to deliver.

I just registered so I could post this same question/problem. I'm in Cupertino. The problem started for me last week as well. The week before that was fine. I'm also watching and recording SYTYCD where the change in bit rate is very noticeable (lots of movement and flashing lights in the show).

The strange thing about this problem is that it's only/mostly happening at prime time. If you have a recorder that let's you view bit rates/file sizes you can see it for yourself. Record something that's FOX/KTVU HD before 8pm and then something between 8pm to 10pm and you can see the bit rate drop in half or so the second it hits 8pm. And it's not just a KTVU local content/FOX difference. I recorded the FOX MLB baseball game on the afternoon of the 27th and it was the usual ~7-8 GB/hour bit rate (17.7 Mbps video in this example).

I don't know if it's related, but I guess it is, from the number of people complaining about Fox-HD 2.1 and SYTYCD and other Fox shows at the 8-10pm slot time, but I experienced a problem of signal loss on my DVD-recorder Magnavox 2160A for this exact show SYTYCD and Bones. The recording was fine 3 weeks ago for the 2 hours shows. Since last 2 weeks, my recorder lost signal randomly somewhere between 8 pm and 10 pm. (Note: the TV signal is OK but the 2160A could not record anything - picture freeze first, then black screen until the end of the programmed recording. And when I record on other HD channels like CBS-HD 5.1, no problem at all for 2 hours).

Huh? :confused:

Please explain further. On my DTV, the HD locals show up under their familiar OTA virtual channel numbers and the other locals are showing up, albeit under their physical channel numbers that aren't related to any published list. Maybe you need to define "needs"? :D

Local stations are in "basic cable" HD included.

The rest of the video services- expanded basic, premium, VOD, PPV, will need a box or cablecard set.

YMMV during the transition stage, but that's the goal.

One thing that helps Seattle is that they have FIOS and they are being very aggresive there. So Comcast has to deliver.

No, no we don't.

Seattle, itself, does not have FIOS.

Some of the county does, but Seattle is blocked from having FIOS rolled out.

I'd be on that like a cat on a laptop if I could.

Jay, do your inlaws have an analog or digital television? If analog, do they have a Basic or Extended Basic subscription? If they have Extended Basic, they'll need a cable box (free from Comcast) to continue getting stations above channel 34. The cable feed going straight into the TV will still give them channels 2-34 (Basic analog stations--locals and a few others). I'm actually doing that with one of my TVs. (I have one bad DTA that I haven't gotten around to taking back to Comcast yet.)

If they have a digital TV, they'll be able to get the "clear QAM" channels without a box. The folks here who are doing that can explain which channels those are, although I know that they include the local stations.


Patty

Gratzie. Exactly what I needed to know.

Anyone seen a list from the old analog to new digital channel line up? Comcast doesn't seem to be providing info. e.g., MSNBC formerly 60 analog is now 90.5 digital. A pain going around to the different sets (I use their built-in ASTC/QAM tuners, not Comcast boxes - which still show MSNBC 60 as 60) and re-running the digital channel update, then changing Favorites, relabeling, etc.

Not very customer-friendly.

Have you used the silicondust website?

http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/channels_us

Local stations are in "basic cable" HD included.

The rest of the video services- expanded basic, premium, VOD, PPV, will need a box or cablecard set.

YMMV during the transition stage, but that's the goal.Thanks for the clarification. I guess you mistyped previously when you put "analog" after "basic" instead of "cable". ;)

Does this mean that all of the basic cable (digital) local channels will eventually have PSIP-derived virtual channel numbers as the HD locals do now?

Thanks for the clarification. I guess you mistyped previously when you put "analog" after "basic" instead of "cable". ;)

Does this mean that all of the basic cable (digital) local channels will eventually have PSIP-derived virtual channel numbers as the HD locals do now?

Analog basic will be there for awhile.

I've no hint of what the industry has in store for clear QAM users. Tell me, what does it take to provide this PSIP? A data stream? Something in a VBI type space? A supercool interactive advertisement content service named after a boat that is fast to paddle but easy to tip (har har)?

Analog basic will be there for awhile.Understood.Tell me, what does it take to provide this PSIP?It takes precisely the same equipment now being used to modify the HD locals' transport stream for retransmission on Comcast's network. :)

Looks like NFL-HD is no longer in the Sports Package but available on the digital tier. Great, now where's my MLB-HD ?? ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Looks like NFL-HD is no longer in the Sports Package but available on the digital tier. Great, now where's my MLB-HD ?? ;)


Mike, If you're asking then surely we are all doomed:D I've forgotten already but with NFL moving our of the sports tier, will MLB and NHL be in it? I hope not because I don't want to keep paying $5/month for tennis.

One of things that has rankled me about Comcast is the bang for the buck that you get depending on where you live. For the heck of it, I compared my Vallejo package with Boston's. I know that Boston is pretty much all digital but it's an interesting comparison. Boston's Digital Premier package is $85 for 12 months including an HD-DVR and then goes to $131. Our package is $84 with the DVR for 12 months but then jumps to $142. Boston has 105 HD channels while we're running 54. Hopefully Mikef5 is right about HD additions here but it's rather clear that other geographic locations are getting much more for the same or even less money.

It's not in HD yet here but are all of you getting the same frozen screen on the Weather Channel for the past three days or so? Is it just Comcast's feed or a more general problem?

Mike, If you're asking then surely we are all doomed:D I've forgotten already but with NFL moving our of the sports tier, will MLB and NHL be in it? I hope not because I don't want to keep paying $5/month for tennis.

When we finally get MLB HD, it will be on Dig Classic.Come the fall both NBA and NHL TV will be on Dig Classic as well.
http://www.comcast.com/About/PressRelease/PressReleaseDetail.ashx?PRID=875

http://www.comcast.com/About/PressRelease/PressReleaseDetail.ashx?PRID=873

I got a message on my box the other day that said that espn news was moving to the sports tier starting aug 1st. I guess they needed something to replace the 3 other channels that are leaving the sports tier

When we finally get MLB HD, it will be on Dig Classic.Come the fall both NBA and NHL TV will be on Dig Classic as well.
http://www.comcast.com/About/PressRelease/PressReleaseDetail.ashx?PRID=875

http://www.comcast.com/About/PressRelease/PressReleaseDetail.ashx?PRID=873

I got a message on my box the other day that said that espn news was moving to the sports tier starting aug 1st. I guess they needed something to replace the 3 other channels that are leaving the sports tier

I was just on the Comcast site to pay my bill and noticed this was at the bottom of the page.....

8/1/09 NBA TV ch.416, NHL ch.419, & NFL ch.417 & NFLHD ch.730 & 917 will be available to customers with the Digital Preferred & Sports & Entertainment. ESPN Classic ch.407 will be moved from Digital Preferred to Sports & Entertainment Package. **HD requires HD equip**

I would imagine that the HD versions of those channels would be in the same tier but I'll have to confirm that with Mr. J.

As far as the MLB-HD, as soon as Mr. J. gets back, that'll be on the top of my list of things to bug him about :)

Laters,
Mikef5

It's not in HD yet here but are all of you getting the same frozen screen on the Weather Channel for the past three days or so? Is it just Comcast's feed or a more general problem?

It's been fine on Comcast in Sunnyvale. I'm sure I looked at it yesterday, and probably also the day before. And it's okay right now.


Patty

For those who remember the faux-HD debate about KNTV's Giants' broadcasts, it appears that Friday night's game was in fauxvision again. I attended the Saturday game (go Lincecum!) and was interested to see that the many highlights they showed of the Friday game on the HD board in the stadium were most definitely in HD. So KNTV just can't be troubled to produce the fauxvision broadcasts in real HD.

It's been fine on Comcast in Sunnyvale. I'm sure I looked at it yesterday, and probably also the day before. And it's okay right now.


It's probably the Weather Star computerized system in my area's head end. It apparently overrides the Weather Channel's signal with the local information. It must have frozen so I'll call Comcast tomorrow to let them know

Analog basic will be there for awhile.

I've no hint of what the industry has in store for clear QAM users. Tell me, what does it take to provide this PSIP? A data stream? Something in a VBI type space? A supercool interactive advertisement content service named after a boat that is fast to paddle but easy to tip (har har)?

How about one of these babies?

http://www.trivenidigital.com/products/guidebuilder.asp

But that might be a bit overkill. Comcast generates PAT/PMT. Is the device that generates that not capable of generating a simple PSIP VCT also?

Friday Giants game on 11 was in real HD, at least on DirecTV. There was a problem with it for the first 20 minutes or so, bad glitching, I had to watch the SD version, don't know if it was a sat problem or local... but they fixed it by the 2nd inning or so, looked like real HD to me anyway.

I only watched a few minutes of one of the late innings, but it sure looked like FauxHD-o-vision to me. And the Friday night game was not on the KNTV HD list you reproduced here:

KNTV HD and Non-HD Giant Game List (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16566726#post16566726)

Thanks I was trying to find that list. They sure do hide it well on the KNTV web site.. it's not listed as HD there but they did say they were hoping to add more HD games, maybe they did.

It was definitely HD, and quite good looking, for KNTV (not bit-starved as some games have looked). I'm sure of it. Like I said there was a problem in the first couple innings, I had to set my reciever to "show SD duplicates" to watch the SD channel 11 instead, but eventually the HD feed was fixed and it looked great.

OK, as I said, I only saw a few minutes . . . But are you sure you are remembering FRIDAY night against Houston? Not the Saturday or Sunday day games? Because the MLB.TV web site doesn't indicate that either Houston or SF had HD feeds.

MLB.TV for Friday July 3 (http://mlb.mlb.com/mediacenter/index.jsp?ymd=20090703)

Yes because it was on 11 and I had to change the receiver to show the SD version instead (because the HD was glitchy) and Saturday's wasn't on TV.

The few minutes I looked in on the Friday night game it looked horrid, I don't know when during the game it was, but it was definitely not HD. It looked like a very bad SD upconvert.

Actually, I do know when it was because I posted about it here at 8:58pm Friday.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16767766&highlight=#post16767766

+1

friday's game was not HD. echo echo echo... can we get rid of b. wilson now? he's not doing favors for my health these days.

I just saw a Comcast ad on The Fox2 news ticker this morning that said "over 100 HD channels coming soon"

friday's game was not HD. echo echo echo... can we get rid of b. wilson now? he's not doing favors for my health these days.
Nikeykid,

If you watched the game last night you're probably recovering in intensive care from your heart attack :p:D
They ought to call him the "Heart Attack Kid", he does this all the time but you have to admit he does make the game interesting.

Laters,
Mikef5

beck was even more, um, exhilarating. in '96 he lost 9 games somehow. (wilson only had 6 blown saves last year, painful though they may have been.) hard to imagine there *was* no HDTV option for the giants back in those days, faux or otherwise.

I was HD on DirecTV, I'm positive... maybe they switched to the MLB Ticket feed because the KNTV feed was borked, I don't know.

Or if was Fauxvision I must have been pretty drunk not to notice, and I don't think I was... not by the 2nd inning yet! ;)

Nikeykid,

If you watched the game last night you're probably recovering in intensive care from your heart attack :p:D
They ought to call him the "Heart Attack Kid", he does this all the time but you have to admit he does make the game interesting.

Laters,
Mikef5

seriously i was one hit away from throwing my laptop at my tv. it was just like the brewers game.

I'm having the same problem as this person. I'm a new subscriber, just got it connected today. Is there anything I can do about it?



I'm a Comcast subscriber in San Francisco. Last night, I noticed that a thin green stipe showed up along the entire right edge of the picture on all HD channels. The night before that, they had pushed an update to all devices (at least in my region) for an upgrade to the program guide (as far as they said). I'm certain that this green stripe wasn't there before that upgrade.

Here's a shot of the bottom-right corner of my image, showing the green stripe:

119512

Has anyone else noticed this? It's worth noting that my display is set up with zero overscan and this stripe is only about eight pixels wide. (Shifting the image position eight pixels to the right on my display hides the stripe completely.) So, those of you whose displays have some overscan may never see this. Even a 1% overscan would hide it completely.

I called Comcast that same night. What I was told was that there were still some upgrades to be made that night and things were still in progress. So I should call them the next night if the stripe is still there after the upgrade is really finished. Fair enough...

Tonight, the stripe is still there. I called them again. In the end, they hadn't heard about it from anyone else, didn't have anything they could do about it, and didn't suggest anything. They said they would take note and would see if they hear from more people about the same issue.

For a moment, I thought this may be an issue arising from the image position being shifted out of place by the upgrade. There's a "Screen Position Setup" setting in the user setup menu of my cable box (a Motorola DCT3416 DVR). However, it doesn't seem to do anything. It changes the position of neither the image nor the menu/guide overlays (at least on HD channels). So much for that...

I don't want to change my display settings and introduce any overscan just to hide this stripe. Maintaining 1:1 pixel mapping is important to me.

The story doesn't end there...

Tonight, I noticed something else that's wrong with the HD image on Comcast and another piece fell into place: There are two vertical "tear lines" near the left edge of the image. This is much easier to describe with a picture than with words, so here is a photo:

119513

What you're looking at is what's supposed to be a broad and smooth band of light in the on-screen image meeting the left edge of my display. However, as you can see, there is a big shift down very close to the left edge, and another lesser shift down a little further in.

This is actually difficult to imagine in action even by looking at the photo. So, this brief video may demonstrate it better:

Sample Video (http://www.erginguney.com/posts/comcast/video.mov)

Notice how the image looks like it goes through a couple of prism edges near the left.

Although I wouldn't bet my life on it, I'm pretty sure that this wasn't present before the recent upgrade either, and in all likelihood, was introduced together with the green stripe. I'm a stickler for image detail and quality, so I'm pretty sure I couldn't have gone very long before noticing this after it started to happen.

Thinking of these two symptoms together, it almost seems to me like the whole image is a little "folded" onto itself horizontally right near the left edge, creating these two "wrinkles", and leaving an empty green "background" to show through on the right edge. In other words, the eight extra green pixel columns I see on the right-hand side of the image may be the same number of pixel columns missing from the left-hand side to create those two tears, as a result of (almost) the whole image being shifted slightly to the left. But don't quote me on that, because especially the tear that is closest to the left edge seems to be much more vertically offset than would be caused by less than eight missing pixels.

So, why am I posting this? Primarily to see if I'm the only one experiencing it, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area and with the same equipment. If it could be that it's just my individual box that somehow experienced a fluke problem due to the upgrade, I would gladly have it replaced by Comcast and live happily ever after.

But if others among you experience this too, then this issue needs raised awareness so that it comes to the attention of Comcast in order to be resolved. And that would probably only happen if those seeing it actually call Comcast and voice complaints. So, please do that, if you're one such Comcast subscriber. This is unacceptable, in my opinion, and I can't wait to get rid of this problem!

To frame the issue a little better, here are some other specifics:

* The issue is present on all Comcast HD channels (numbered 7XX) and only on those channels.

* The issue is always present on any channel that exhibits it. If an HD channel goes to a commercial break and shows SD quality ads or switches to upconverted SD programming, the symptoms are still there.

* The issue is not in the broadcast that's being made since their upgrade two days ago. When I look at old HD recordings on my hard drive from months ago, I still see the issue. So, it's clearly an issue with the display hardware/firmware; not with the current signal. (I don't have any widescreen SD recordings from before the upgrade, so I can't say anything about those...)

* To give a sense of the scale of the tears along the left edge of the image, the first tear is about 4-5 pixels away from edge of the image, and the second tear is roughly another 35 pixels away from the first one. These are, of course, as counted on a full 1080p display (as is the eight-pixel width of the green stripe).

* I know this is not an issue with my particular display, because, when I try it with my HD DVD player (yes, I still have one of those...), the image is perfect; no stripe, no tears...

I'm having the same problem as this person. I'm a new subscriber, just got it connected today. Is there anything I can do about it?

I've had this problem for almost a year now. There's only 2 solutions: Set your TV to overscan or drop your resolution to 720p

I've had this problem for almost a year now. There's only 2 solutions: Set your TV to overscan or drop your resolution to 720p

The thin green line on the right of the display has been around as long as HD signals have been broadcasting. It is a side effect of some of the encoders the TV stations are using. They assumed that all displays would overscan so no one would see it.

What should happen is that receiving device should have an option to force to black a programmable number of pixels from each edge of the screen. This number of pixels should be unique to each channel.

It is not likely you will see a fix for this any time soon.

Any noticeable degradation on picture quality if I set mine to 720p?

is that a question?

I've had this problem for almost a year now. There's only 2 solutions: Set your TV to overscan or drop your resolution to 720p
you can also change to RGB - check out http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14866262#post14866262

I'll try that on my Motorola 6412.

Any noticeable degradation on picture quality if I set mine to 720p.

is that a question?

Yes. lol, sorry.

from what I've seen you'll only get the green line on the slightly older boxes. I have one of the newer hd-dvrs and the green line issue is gone whereas my friend with the same tv and a slightly older box has it. my box is a dch3416 his I THINK is a dch6412. My experience with comcast is if you just walk into the office and ask for a particular box, they'll give it to you.

i think the 6412's were DCT models, technically, but regardless, i can say from personal experience i had the green line on the 6412, then traded it in for a (DCH) 3416 and the new box also had it.

not seeing it with the DCX, but what i *am* seeing is band of black along the left for some kinds of content. it's almost as if they decided to compensate for the green line on the right by just panning everything to the right until it went away, leaving a blank (black) area on the left.

regarding the HBO promotion i noticed i was getting HBO on channel 770 unscrambled for awhile earlier this week even though i am on the digital silver plan. (i even recorded some episodes of true blood.) then between monday night and tuesday night channel 770 went back to saying "subscription service" etc...

Any noticeable degradation on picture quality if I set mine to 720p?
no worries. no matter how you ask it, it all comes down to what your display prefers.

you might experience noticeable picture *improvement" forcing 720p out if your display does a particularly bad job of deinterlacing and downscaling 1080i content.

but if your display was made in the last couple years this seems unlikely to me. i would probably recommend native for most displays unless something unusual were going on.

That list of cities, are they all 750 or 860 only? I don't think there's any 1GHz areas in that list.

Okay Mikey, where did your post go? :eek::p

Holy Sh*T!!!

I can't wait until Aug 11.

Edit: oops! I guess it was supposed to be released tomorrow.

Keenan,

I think Mikef5 was supposed to post that until tomorrow. :D

Keenan,

I think Mikef5 was supposed to post that until tomorrow. :D

I guess so, too late though, it's still in my cache. :p

I guess so, too late though, it's still in my cache. :p

Yeah, I'm subscribed to the forum so I received an email with the info. I guess most here are subscribed too. But we can wait a few hours... ;)

Holy Sh*T!!!

I can't wait until Aug 11.

Edit: oops! I guess it was supposed to be released tomorrow.

What are you talking about? I never saw this list. Mike probably can't talk yet, but the rest of you who saw this can. What's happening either tomorrow or August 11?? Thanks!!

Comcast to Launch 80 New Networks in Portions of San Francisco Bay Area as it Offers a “World of More” Programming
51 New HD Networks, 14 International Channels and 13 Spanish Language Networks Come To Areas of South Bay and North Bay


After Successfully Converting Customers to Digital Services, Comcast Now Has 92 HD Networks and Delivers on Programming Promise With Slew of New Viewing Options in Phase One of Bay’s Digital Upgrade

###

LIVERMORE, CA (July 10, 2009) – Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSK, CMCSA), the nation’s leading provider of entertainment, information and communications, today announced that it is launching 80 new networks on August 11 in portions of the San Francisco Bay Area, including up to 51 high-definition (HD) networks, 13 Spanish language channels, 14 international premium networks and two standard definition channels (see complete list of networks and channel numbers below). Twenty-six communities in the South Bay and North Bay (see complete list of cities below) will now have access to 92 HD networks and will be receiving a slew of new programming in the first phase of channel launches as a result of Comcast’s recent digital upgrade of customers from analog to digital.



Earlier this year, Comcast began a digital migration called “The World of More,” offering digital upgrades to Standard Cable customers to migrate from analog to digital, and converting channels 31 and above to a digitally delivered format. Comcast’s digital upgrade reclaimed analog bandwidth to allow the company to provide more products and services to customers, such as faster Internet speeds, more channels and more ON DEMAND content. Comcast continues its digital migration in other portions of the Bay Area and those areas will receive the new programming in subsequent phases later in 2009.



“We’ve heard from customers that they can’t get enough HD and multicultural programming, so we’re excited to exponentially increase our offering of those networks and give even more value to our customers as part of our digital upgrade,” said Steve White, Senior Vice President of Comcast’s California Region. “These channel launches are about delivering on Comcast’s promise to customers that by converting to digital, we could offer more of the products and services they want, right away. And this is just the beginning as we roll out ‘The World of More’ in California.”



Beginning August 11th, the new programming will be available to residential homes and businesses in the following cities: Belvedere, Corte Madera, Cupertino, Fairfax, Forest Knolls, Greenbrae, Kentfield, Lagunitas, Larkspur, Los Altos, Marin, Mill Valley, Milpitas, Mountain View, Novato, Ross, San Anselmo, San Geronimo, San Quentin, San Rafael, Santa Clara, Saratoga, Sausalito, Sunnyvale, Tiburon and Woodacre. (Note: Los Altos, Milpitas, Saratoga and Sunnyvale have already launched 12 of the HD networks and Retirement Living TV, so those cities will be receiving 67 new networks).



The new HD networks will include: BET HD, Biography Channel HD, Bravo HD, Cartoon Network HD, CBS College Sports HD, CMT HD, CNBC HD, Comedy Central HD, Disney XD HD, E! HD, Encore HD, ESPN News HD, Fox Business Network HD, Fox News Channel HD, Fuse HD, FX HD, G4 HD, Hallmark Movie Channel HD, HBO Comedy HD, HBO Latino HD, HBO Zone HD, IFC HD, Lifetime HD, Lifetime Movie Network HD, MGM HD, MLB Network HD, MSNBC HD, MTV HD, NBA TV HD, NHL Network HD, Nickelodeon HD, Outdoor Channel HD, Planet Green HD, QVC HD, Showtime Too HD, Speed HD, Spike HD, Starz! Comedy HD, Starz! Edge HD, Starz! Kids & Family HD, Style Network HD, Thriller MAX HD, Action MAX HD, TMC The Movie Channel HD, Travel Channel HD, TV One HD, VH1 HD, WE HD, The Weather Channel HD, WGN HD and a pay-per-view (PPV) HD channel.



In addition to these new HD Channels, Comcast continues to deliver more HD content ON DEMAND, so customers can watch HD when they want to watch it. With more than 1,000 HD choices, Comcast is delivering the HD programming that aligns with what consumers want to watch and how they want to watch it, for example:

* live HD sporting events from all of the major local broadcasters, Comcast SportsNet, ESPN and ESPN2, TBS, TNT, Versus, etc.;
* more than 200 HD movies from top movie providers;
* nearly 300 television shows including highly acclaimed television series like “Mad Men,” “Weeds” and the “CSI” series, available on linear and on HD On Demand the day after they air; and
* hundreds of music offerings in the music category, which is one of the most popular categories currently On Demand.



Customers who do not receive HD channels will have new programming options as well. All of the areas will receive Hallmark Movie Channel and those areas that have not already launched Retirement Living TV, will receive that network as well. All cities will receive the 14 international premium networks, which include Antenna One, Band Internacional, C1R, Deutsche Welle, GMA Life, MYX, PFC 100% Futebol, RTP, Setanta Sports, STAR India GOLD, STAR India NEWS, STAR ONE, TV Globo and Vijay, as well as the 13 Spanish language channels, which include AYM Sports, Bandamax, De Película, De Película Clásico, EWTN En Espanol, Latele Novela, Multimedios, Ritmoson Latino, SUR México, TeleHit, Teleritmo, TBN Enlace and Utilisima.



In addition to the new networks, up to 29 additional international and HD networks are changing channel numbers in order to group together genres of programming as well as channels that share a similar language or country of origin (see complete list of networks and channel numbers below).




The following lists can also be found at

http://comcastcalifornia.mediaroom.com





51 NEW HIGH DEFINITION (HD) NETWORKS



Network New Channel #


WGN HD 717

QVC HD * 719

ESPN News HD 726

NBA TV HD 727

NHL Network HD 728

MLB Network HD 729

Speed HD * 731

CBS College Sports HD 732

Bravo HD * 733

TV One HD 740

FX HD * 741

Style Network HD 742

Spike HD 743

G4 HD 744

Comedy Central HD 745

E! HD * 753

Travel Channel HD * 755

Fox News Channel HD * 760

Fox Business Network HD * 761

CNBC HD * 762

Disney XD HD 763

Cartoon Network HD * 766

Nickelodeon HD 767

Planet Green HD 771

Biography Channel HD 772

The Weather Channel HD 776

BET HD 777

CMT HD 778

Fuse HD 779

VH1 HD 781

MTV HD 782

Outdoor Channel HD 784

MSNBC HD 787

IFC HD 790

WE HD 791

Hallmark Movie Channel HD * 794

Lifetime HD 795

Lifetime Movie Network HD 796

MGM HD 797

HBO Comedy HD 805

HBO Zone HD 807

HBO Latino HD 808

Encore HD * 809

Starz! Edge HD 817

Starz! Comedy HD 818

Starz! Kids & Family HD 819

Showtime Too HD 826

Action MAX HD 840

Thriller MAX HD 841

TMC The Movie Channel HD 847

PPV HD 871


* Has already launched in Los Altos, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Saratoga and Sunnyvale




2 NEW STANDARD DEFINITION NETWORKS

Network New Channel #

Hallmark Movie Channel 500

Retirement Living TV * 205

* Has already launched in Los Altos, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Saratoga and Sunnyvale



14 NEW INTERNATIONAL PREMIUM NETWORKS

For programming information visit www.comcast.com/internationaltv

Network New Channel #

Setanta Sports (English/International) 300

TV Globo (Portuguese/Brazilian) 305

PFC 100% Futebol (Portuguese/Brazilian) 306

Band Internacional (Portuguese/Brazilian) 307

RTP (Portuguese) 310

Antenna One (Greek) 312

Deutsche Welle (German) 315

C1R (Russian) 325

STAR India NEWS (South Asian - Hindi) 341

STAR ONE (South Asian - Hindi) 342

STAR India GOLD (South Asian - Hindi) 343

Vijay (South Asian - Tamil) 349

MYX (English + Taglish) 368

GMA Life (English + Tagalog) 370


13 NEW SPANISH LANGUAGE NETWORKS

Network New Channel #

AYM Sports (sports) 626

Multimedios (news) 632

SUR México (news) 641

Latele Novela (soap operas) 645

Utilisima (women) 646

TeleHit (music/entertainment) 653

Ritmoson Latino (music/entertainment) 654

Teleritmo (music/entertainment) 655

Bandamax (music/entertainment) 656

TBN Enlace (religious) 658

EWTN En Espanol (religious) 659

De Película (movies) 664

De Película Clásico (movies) 665



29 CHANNEL CHANGES



Network Old Channel # New Channel #


TV5Monde (French) 252 317

Raitalia (Italian) 254 319

RTN (Russian) 255 324

TV Japan (Japanese) 245 330

SBTN (Vietnamese) 248 331

tvK (Korean) 263 332

Zee TV (South Asian) 246 336

TV Asia (South Asian) 247 337

SET Asia (SONY) (South Asian) 249 338

STAR India PLUS (South Asian) 250 340

CTI-Zhong Tian Channel (Chinese/Mandarin) 243 354

CCTV-4 (Chinese/Mandarin) 244 355

Phoenix Info News (Mandarin/Dragon Pack) 257 356

Phoenix North America (Mandarin/Dragon Pack) 258 357

ETTV-Super Channel (Mandarin/Dragon Pack) 256 358

Jade (Chinese/Cantonese) 262 360

The Filipino Channel (Filipino) 241 367

GMA Pinoy TV (Filipino) 242 369

Playboy en Espanol (Spanish) 613 676

ABC Family HD 764 768

Disney Channel HD 765 769

Palladia HD 743 783

Hallmark Movie Channel HD 749 794

AMC HD 769 798

HBO HD 770 801

Encore HD 775 809

Starz! HD 780 816

Showtime HD 785 825

Cinemax HD 792 838






About Comcast Corporation

Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) (www.comcast.com) is the nation's leading provider of entertainment, information and communication products and services. With 24.1 million cable customers, 15.3 million high-speed Internet customers, and 6.8 million Comcast Digital Voice customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of cable systems and in the delivery of programming content.



Comcast's content networks and investments include E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, Golf Channel, VERSUS, G4, PBS KIDS Sprout, TV One, ten sports networks operated by Comcast Sports Group and Comcast Interactive Media, which develops and operates Comcast's Internet businesses, including Comcast.net (www.comcast.net). Comcast also has a majority ownership in Comcast-Spectacor, whose major holdings include the Philadelphia Flyers NHL hockey team, the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team and two large multipurpose arenas in Philadelphia.



Comcast’s California Region, based in Livermore, California, serves more than 2.4 million customers in Northern and Central California. Comcast employs more than 7,500 local residents across the region.



###

Ok, so there it is, finally official, another 51 HD channels plus a few more just to round it out. There is going to be a channel reorganization ( renumbering the channels ) but you should be receiving a new lineup card in the mail. I have a preliminary lineup card that I could upload if people want to see it but it's not official but will give you an idea of the lineup changes. I knew they were going to add some new HD channels but this was a big surprise to me, that they would add this many channels all at once. Looking forward to August 11th.

Laters,
Mikef5

Yes, thanks for comparing. I sent a polite email to KTVU's engineering dept at engineering@ktvu.com describing the problem and referencing this thread. I haven't heard a response yet, but I suggest those who care about this do the same so that way they know more people would like this problem fixed.

I received a reply from one of the engineers at KTVU and the over-compression problem should be fixed. SYTYCD looked *much* better tonight, and the 1 hour recording was about 50% larger than last night's 2 hour recording, and I didn't notice any macroblocking.

I wonder how long it will take Tivo to update all these channels when they finally launch in August ?? I've still got channels with no guide data in them from the last channel additions. I now need to get a larger hard drive for the Tivo :p

For those of you that saw the post earlier tonight...... I screwed up, I was editing the post and hit the wrong button.... thought I had deleted the post fast enough but noooooo ;)

Laters,
Mikef5

Mike, is that list of cities confirmed? I notice no Santa Rosa in there. OTOH, the channels with the asterisks are marked as already launched in Los Altos, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Saratoga and Sunnyvale, but they're already launched in Santa Rosa as well. Maybe Santa Rosa was left out inadvertently? I was looking forward to those additional HBO channels.

Also, I guess they didn't go with the full compliment of HBO HD channels anyway.

Mike, is that list of cities confirmed? I notice no Santa Rosa in there.

Also, I guess they didn't go with the full compliment of HBO HD channels.
Jim,

I noticed the same thing, I asked Mr. J. about that and I'm waiting to hear from him. I'm pretty sure you're a 1 GHz area so you have the bandwidth, if they've completed the analog to digital shift in your area, to add these channels. I'll let you know when I find out.

Laters,
Mikef5

Here's a preliminary lineup card that you should be getting in the mail. Remember, this is preliminary and can change at anytime.
147476

Laters,
Mikef5

Here's a preliminary lineup card that you should be getting in the mail. Remember, this is preliminary and can change at anytime.
147476

Laters,
Mikef5

Odd that WGN-HD is shown in Limited Basic, not so odd that QVC-HD is though, given Comcast's relationship with that channel. :p

They've also got Sci-Fi-HD(Syfy it's called now) listed in both Starter and Classic. :D

Jim,

I noticed the same thing, I asked Mr. J. about that and I'm waiting to hear from him. I'm pretty sure you're a 1 GHz area so you have the bandwidth, if they've completed the analog to digital shift in your area, to add these channels. I'll let you know when I find out.

Laters,
Mikef5

Thanks, I don't know if the digital shift has been completed here or not, I do know that many of those channels in green(PDF) are already lit up in Santa Rosa though. We are a 1GHz system by the way, although there hasn't been any equipment deployed that can do anything with the bandwidth above 860MHz.

Good job Comcast!

And remember that NFL-HD should be available, for digital classic subs in 8/1. I'm also excited about having access to ESPN 360 (Interned based). Heck I'm excited about that spanish and international channels!

I've watched ESPNNews HD at my gym and it looks really good, too bad that it will be in the sports package. Well, it's in the sports and classic package, hmmm...

I'm also excited about the PPV-HD channels, just imagine porn in HD!, just kidding, I'm actually excited because we finally will have PPV Boxing in HD. I haven't bought a few PPV boxing matches because I knew they were in HD and I didn't want to pay $50 for SD. The last one where I couldn't resist was De La Hoya vs Pacquiao. So, Mayweather vs Marquez in HD here we go!!!

San Jose is not on that list? WTF Comcast!

San Jose is not on that list? WTF Comcast!

San Jose is still in the process of shutting off analogs in sections. It's a first in-first out process.

Solano County, Vallejo-Benicia specifically? I'm not holding my breath.

Why isn't MSNBC-HD on the list. Please tell me that it is going to be included.

Why isn't MSNBC-HD on the list. Please tell me that it is going to be included.

From Mike's list:

33. MSNBC HD 787

Well, I guess that's great news...for the people that live in those cities. I, for one, am tired about hearing all these other areas getting more channels when I'm still waiting for the HD channels from the previous upgrade, such as TravelHD, to come through in Berkeley. Shouldn't Comcast take care of those customers and make those upgrades first? It upsets me even more that these areas will be receving 50-60 more HD channels when we're paying the same amount of money for, what's supposed to be, similar service. Again, lucky for the select few that live in those areas. Everyone else is getting hosed.

Maybe it's time to start looking into DirectTV or Dish since it seems like I live in an area that Comcast, for whatever reason, has a difficult time upgrading.

Mike, that is great news about all of the new HD channels; thanks for sharing it. Next time you speak to Mr. J, could you ask about BBC America HD? That's the only new HD channel I was actually hoping to get, in time for the Torchwood Children of Earth miniseries (starting July 20, which is also the first day that channel is available).

Well, I guess that's great news...for the people that live in those cities. I, for one, am tired about hearing all these other areas getting more channels when I'm still waiting for the HD channels from the previous upgrade, such as TravelHD, to come through in Berkeley. Shouldn't Comcast take care of those customers and make those upgrades first? It upsets me even more that these areas will be receving 50-60 more HD channels when we're paying the same amount of money for, what's supposed to be, similar service. Again, lucky for the select few that live in those areas. Everyone else is getting hosed.

Maybe it's time to start looking into DirectTV or Dish since it seems like I live in an area that Comcast, for whatever reason, has a difficult time upgrading.

Couldn't agree more! Here in San Mateo we're also still waiting for those new HD channels, let alone the new ones just announced. This despite the fact we were among the first to do the analog-digital transition. Unfortunately, satellite or Uverse isn't an option for me, so I'll just have to wait for Comcast...

What's the prognosis for the East Bay?

What's the prognosis for the East Bay?

I'd like to know this too!

Good job Comcast!

And remember that NFL-HD should be available, for digital classic subs in 8/1. I'm also excited about having access to ESPN 360 (Interned based). Heck I'm excited about that spanish and international channels!

I've watched ESPNNews HD at my gym and it looks really good, too bad that it will be in the sports package. Well, it's in the sports and classic package, hmmm...

I'm also excited about the PPV-HD channels, just imagine porn in HD!, just kidding, I'm actually excited because we finally will have PPV Boxing in HD. I haven't bought a few PPV boxing matches because I knew they were in HD and I didn't want to pay $50 for SD. The last one where I couldn't resist was De La Hoya vs Pacquiao. So, Mayweather vs Marquez in HD here we go!!!
Rsa13,

ESPNNews HD channel 726 is listed both in the Sports Entertainment Package and in Digital Classic so your guess is as good as mine :). Like I said that is a tentative channel listing card and is subject to change and should be taken with a grain of salt.

Laters,
Mikef5

I received a reply from one of the engineers at KTVU and the over-compression problem should be fixed. SYTYCD looked *much* better tonight, and the 1 hour recording was about 50% larger than last night's 2 hour recording, and I didn't notice any macroblocking.
The audio was also a great deal better than it had been on the previous shows. The dialogue was very clear and the audience sound was not muted as it been before this.

From Mike's list:

33. MSNBC HD 787

Oops. My bad. Thanks for the correction.

Well, I guess that's great news...for the people that live in those cities. I, for one, am tired about hearing all these other areas getting more channels when I'm still waiting for the HD channels from the previous upgrade, such as TravelHD, to come through in Berkeley. Shouldn't Comcast take care of those customers and make those upgrades first? It upsets me even more that these areas will be receving 50-60 more HD channels when we're paying the same amount of money for, what's supposed to be, similar service. Again, lucky for the select few that live in those areas. Everyone else is getting hosed.

Maybe it's time to start looking into DirectTV or Dish since it seems like I live in an area that Comcast, for whatever reason, has a difficult time upgrading.

I would like to know whether Comcast, when it does these system upgrades, considers things beyond the pure technical capability of an area. Could socioeconomic factors also play into who gets upgraded and when? Are, for instance, areas that are perceived to more affluent, with possibly more costly package subscribers, likely to get preference?

I saw that Detroit got Big-10 network HD. Is that something they are planning on bringing out here, or do they get it becasue they are in the middle of Big-10 country?

San Jose is still in the process of shutting off analogs in sections. It's a first in-first out process.

Can anyone give us a date for San Jose???

I also note no East Bay communities listed. Either they are being rolled in a little later (that does happen) or the announcement was only focusing on Peninsula communities including Marin. Sci-Fi HD (now Syfy, yuck) is in Expanded Basic in some areas. Not mine but it sure confused Comcast CSRs ("you should be getting it.")

Last week I had about 3 days when high speed internet and cable service were out. CC said that they were working in the cables. ? Hopefully that means that some kind of upgrade is coming soon.