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Portland, OR - Comcast

554K views 5K replies 371 participants last post by  Mark12547 
#1 ·
Since the other Portland thread is almost exclusively about OTA issues, I thought it would be nice to start a thread just for those of us using CATV.

I've had the Comcast HD service since the recent roll-out and have been satisfied with the quality but dissappointed with the tiny channel selection offered (all in the 700's BTW). I'm using the Mot 5100 box they provided and viewing through an Infocus projector on to a 100" Stewart screen. The INHD channels seem to have the best quality picture, and I'm not sure why that is. I really wish Discovery HD was available, and the ability to subscribe to just HBO-HD or Showtime-HD (without the whole HBO or ST package) would be nice. Hopefully, Comcast can make some deals to offer more before too long.

Some of us have noticed problems getting our boxes to lock into the HD channels, but can force them in by switching back and forth among channels. Weird bug, but seems to happen less than it did when I first got the box. What are you others experiencing?


EDIT: As recommended, I added satellite to the subject since there seems to be a lot of discussion about HD experiences with VOOM and the like.
 
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#427 ·

Quote:
Originally posted by ridgefamus
Last night during commercials on LOST, I switched to INHD (1, I think) to see that an NFL "Game of the Week" was being shown - NY Giants vs. Detroit. My emailed INHD schedule said the time slot 8 - 9 pm was to be the Bon Jovi: Full House concert. What struck me was that the game highlights that I saw were in SD WS, but not stretched. I don't recall another show on INHD not in HD. Maybe I missed the HD portion of the show (LOST is compelling and there was this baseball game on yet another channel
)?


Looking through INHD's forthcoming sports programming, I don't see another NFL replay. Was this just an anomoly? BTW, good to see there are some NBA games coming up on INHD.


Bob

Not an anomoly. NFL GTW will be on INDx (it's 2 on most systems) on systems where there currently isn't room for a separate NFL Network HD channel.
 
#428 ·
Well I watched another NFL Game of the Week last night - Jacksonville vs. ? - on INHD2, again in SD. I saw a bit more of the program than my first and was shocked to see a series of commercials. Then, Jeremy Shockley comes on to tell me I am watching the NFL Network! Again, there has been no mention of this in the program guides or in INHD's emailed schedules.


I agree, Ben, that one of the primary reasons I sub to Comcast is to get their HD stuff 24/7. I can get all the network HD OTA that I want for free.


blitzen102: Our Comcast carries the NFL network on a separate channel already. Are they trying to get folks to upgrade their package who can't get that by teasing it on INHD? Sounds like the local Comcast is preempting INHD programming to suit their own desires. That's not what I signed up for.


Bob
 
#430 ·

Quote:
Originally posted by ZXTT
Hmm, I have a TiVo and a ReplayTV. There is a problem with your

So unlimited pause is fine, but too darn easy to mess up - "OK, the kids are tucked in, now lets watch the end of MNF" - 25 mins later "Oh, when the !@#$ did they move English soccer highlights to 9PM on Monday?" (Remember, I was out of the room at 8:59:30 when the machine would warn me.)


I totally agree about the deficits of the Replay. I've experienced all of them. I've gotten to the point that when I know I will be doing a long pause, I peruse the listings for the next few hours to make sure I don't have something set to record.


And not having the ability to prioritize or even see a list of items that are set up to record is very frustrating. You have to resort to a lot of extra hand labor to make sure things get recorded the way you want. (I have an old, first generation Replay that does not have all the software upgrades of the newer models). So I am eagerly awaiting the new comcast model.
 
#431 ·
OK I got Comcast installed with the Motorola DCT-6200. The DVI to HDMI cable worked even though it didn't work on the PC (no big deal). Once I looked up how to switch it to 720p for my display (the installer had no clue), everything worked, except...I get massive breakups on Discovery HD sometimes lasting for minutes and similar breakups on ESPN-HD. They often lead to frozen and blank screens. All the other HD channels have no problems at all.


These are worse than any glitches I get OTA. Should I complain about this? Why would this only happen on two channels?
 
#433 ·
scowl, I had the same problem with those two channels. The problem was poor signal strength at the box. Comcast came back out and ran a new line to my HD box and now it works fine, except now I have a ground loop hum that I never had before. Try a different cable, or eliminate any splitters you may have in line with the HD box to see if that helps.


Good Luck


Andy
 
#434 ·
Those are the two encrypted (i.e. scrambled) channels and should be available without a premium channel subscription. The local HD channels are not encrypted. The 6200 is supposed to work on DISC-HD and ESPN-HD, as long as your subcription also gives you access to the non-HD ESPN and Discovery.


If that's the case, you probably have a bad 6200 box. I would either bring the 6200 to your local Comcast place and ask them to swap it with another, or schedule a service call.


You can also check the service menu for signal strength and S/N ratio. As someone noted above, you might have marginal signal quality at the 6200. Although if that is true, seems like you should also have some crappy looking analog channels.
 
#435 ·
The "should I complain?" question became rhetorical after a few more minutes of watching! They're sending someone out tomorrow. I've read that Comcast often just hook up an amplifier to the cable. I just hooked up a 15db amp and it's made the two problem channels watchable with a minor glitch about once a minute. I have no splitters (I yeanked them all out a while ago due to leakage from local stations). Interesting how this only affects the two encryped channels.


Is the S/N ratio one of the d options in the service menu?
 
#437 ·
Your cable wiring in your house might be less than stellar. You might need to replace it, or some of the connectors.


If you have to hook up an amp, best to install it close to where the cable comes in to your house. That way, if you've got bad wiring, you can at least boost the level of the good signal compared to the interference/noise. That should help the S/N ratio.


You should NOT put the amp right next to the 6200. In that scenario you boost the signal level AND the noise level equally. As a result, there is no improvement in the S/N ratio.
 
#438 ·
There is less than three feet of cable after it comes into my house (just enough to get it through the wall) so it doesn't have much chance to pick up noise after that. The cable between the wall jack and the box is longer so I'll try putting the amp at the jack.


Without the amp, the in-band status shows "SNR: 35.0 db GOOD, AGC: 75% FAIR".
 
#439 ·
Could be a connector somewhere... also could be somewhere beyond your house - i.e. comcast problem. The fact that your amp improve it suggests either a weak signal or some real strong ingress (over-the-air signals getting into your cable grounding) somewhere. Comcast tech should be able to narrow this down.


Any chance you're really close to one of the local broadcasters' transmitting antennae?
 
#440 ·
I'm just a few miles line of sight to every transmitter in the West Hills. The interference from local transmitters turns my analog cable into a horrible mess for local stations. I get a better picture from KPTV when the cable isn't plugged into the wall jack -- I don't even need an antenna. The upside is I get excellent OTA reception. Perfect DTV reception persuaded me to watch local TV stations again.


I moved the amp to the wall jack and got this reading: "SNR: 36.4 db GOOD, AGC 40% GOOD". Apparently that +1.4 db was enough to fix everything. I've been watching Discovery HD for an hour and I haven't seen a single glitch yet. I wonder if I should disconnect it to see if the cable guy comes up with the same solution tomorrow.
 
#441 ·
I think in your situation, you need to use the BEST RG6 quad shield cable that money can buy... And you want all your connectors should be professionally terminated. You can't afford a single bad ground. Even then, you may have some trouble if anything connected to your cable has poor shielding. I had that problem with some VCRs.
 
#443 ·
Anyone else having a problem with Monsters, Inc. on 704? I've been getting black flashes about every 10 seconds and the sound has been spotty, too. Switched to OTA and the black flashes go away but the audio is still intermittant. Pretty unwatchable, IMO. C'mon Comcast, what are we paying for? KATU, are you having retransmission problems?


Bob
 
#445 ·

Quote:
Originally posted by scowl
Well if it keeps on working as well as it does right now, I'm not going to spend another dime or minute on it. I've been watching Discovery HD and ESPN-HD all day and they've both been absolute perfection since I put the amp in.

Good for you. I have to run an amplifier at my house too, due to the long runs with not-so-good RG6. I find that it improves the picture on the analog stations, and reduces the shadows I might see on channel 8.


I happen to have comcast digital phone service as well. When they put in the digital phone service, I started getting a "hum bar" on my analog stations. Not bad enough to raise a stink over, but there nonetheless. The hum bar got its name from 60hz interference from AC circuits. It looks like a transparent horizontal ripple that rolls up the screen slowly starting from the bottom and takes about 15 seconds to hit the top, before it starts over again. Anyone else have this and gotten it fixed?
 
#446 ·
The cable guy pointed out something -- these fancy digital boxes talk both ways for things like on-demand events and my amplifier wouldnt pass that. It also wouldn't allow automatic firmware upgrades.


The solution was simply replacing the three foot cable between the wall jack and the STB with a cable that has a thicker center wire. That's it! Higher frequencies cause the skin effect which causes a lot of loss so you just need to use a thicker conductor.
 
#447 ·
Just to quickly debunk this myth, I'll quote myself from an earlier post:
Quote:
Originally posted by HTBruceM
Those are the two encrypted (i.e. scrambled) channels and should be available without a premium channel subscription. The local HD channels are not encrypted. The 6200 is supposed to work on DISC-HD and ESPN-HD, as long as your subcription also gives you access to the non-HD ESPN and Discovery.


If that's the case, you probably have a bad 6200 box. I would either bring the 6200 to your local Comcast place and ask them to swap it with another, or schedule a service call.


You can also check the service menu for signal strength and S/N ratio. As someone noted above, you might have marginal signal quality at the 6200. Although if that is true, seems like you should also have some crappy looking analog channels.
Quote:
Originally posted by Chris Arnesen
I just triple checked with Comcast and the following channels are required by contract to be bundled together, one isn't available without the other:


Discovery Kids

Discovery Home

Discovery Health

Discovery Times

Discovery Wings

Discovery HD Theater


ESPNews

ESPN Classic

ESPN HD


Even though Expanded Basic Cable includes regular Discovery and ESPN, they are not part of the required bundled package.


--Chris ^_^

So, in order to get ESPN or Discovery HD you'll need to subscribe to Digital Cable.


--Chris
 
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