Hi all,

As a proud new owner of a Panasonic 42" plasma, I'd like to go HD. I currently have basic cable through Comcast, but after calling them, I not only have to upgrade to digital cable (fine, I understand), but I have to go two packages up the line to even GET HD programming, at significant extra cost ($60/mo). Not impressed.

I'm thinking of switching to AT&T, since I can get a bundle involving phone/DSL/Dish Network for what appears to be a similar price to what I'm paying for all three services now. However, I've never set up the TV part through Dish before, so I have some questions from y'all who have.

I have the following tuner equipment:

Room 1:
Panny 42" plasma TV (NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuner on a single coax)
ReplayTV 45xx DVR (analog up-to-480p tuner with coax ins/outs, connected to the TV via component video)
VHS VCR with analog tuner (connected to TV via composite video)

Room 2:
PC with ATI Theater 550 TV card with digital (standard-def) tuner on coax

I'm trying to figure out how many standard and HD receivers I need on a Dish setup. Currently, my Comcast cable comes in via a single coax. It is split once (one for cable modem, one to Room 1) in Room 2, then the line in Room 1 is split again so that the TV/DVR/VCR tuners can be accommodated.

I need help in figuring out where I'll need receivers to take care of all devices, but still keep my monthly bill as low as possible by limiting the number of receivers to the minimum. AT&T/Dish offer both single and dual-tuner standard and HD receivers. If anyone can give me some advice, I'd appreciate it, and thanks for taking the time to read this (rather wordy) post. :)

First thing to try is connect your cable to the new TV and do a "digital channel scan" and see what in-the-clear channels your cable company provides. They SHOULD be supplying the locals that they carry in digital (HD) at a minimum. You may also get some add'l HD channels.

Yup, I did that when I first set up my set. I'm getting more channels, but some of the behavior is funky; perhaps I could ask you some questions.

a) I'm assuming that all the channels I previously got with my old TV are still received in analog, and always received in standard-definition (i.e., FOX, channel 5). Is this correct, or am I just happening to watch shows that aren't available in HD?

b)I'm also seeing similar channels offered digitally (i.e., FOX, channel 90-3, FOX channel 109-17). Some of them appear to be coming in Hi-Def, at least some of the time. I'm assuming that these are the channels I need to use if I want an HD signal, rather than the channels I used to be getting. Is this also correct, and why would they offer the same network on multiple digital channels?

c)Some of the analog networks have different programming than digital channels that have the same network name (i.e., TBS, analog, channel 2 is different than TBS, digital, channel 76-9). What's up with that?

d)Some of the digital channels I'm getting seem to sometimes come in, and sometimes not (channel will be blank, or "not found"). Anybody know why?

d)Does anyone have a listing of unscrambled digital channels offered by Comcast by area? It would be a lot easier to figure out rather than creating a spreadsheet and spending an hour or two some night figuring it out, though I'm willing to do that if that's what it takes. I've been to Comcast's website, and their channel lineup doesn't appear to jive with what I'm getting at all number-wise.

I get a lot of varied information from Comcast; two online chat representatives told me I had to go to digital cable and get at least the Digital Preferred package (big bucks extra per month) or I'd get no HDTV. A phone representative told me I only needed a box for $7/month. They've reserved one for me, but now that I've finally found some programming in HD without it, I'm not so sure any more. I wish I could get a straight answer.

Thanks for your help so far, Hall. I really appreciate it.

a) Yes, you will get *both* now

b) Yes, the 'new' channels will probably have "odd" channel number assignments like you're seeing. My parent's cable provider, Time Warner, actually re-maps *some* of the channels to their normal channel number. For example, channel 7 on analog shows up as 7.1 for the digital channel. The programming is *not* always HD, as you ask. Why they do things, I can't guess. :)

c) Don't know. Check the "local" thread for your area.

d) It's possible those are "on demand" channels that your neighbors or actually anyone on the cable system are watching. It would appear that since they're "random", the cableco doesn't encrypt them. Some people have gotten "adult" programs this way so if you've got kids, be careful.

2nd d) See "c"

I'm going to cancel my phone line and have just a DSL line and was wondering if Dishnetwork will work just with the DSL line?

I do not think the Dish receiver will "work" with a DSL only line, if you mean call in
and report movie purchases, and allow ordering with the remote. If you have a router or switch for your computers nearby, you can hook up to that instead.