Seattle, WA - Comcast - Page 59

What hardware are you using?

I have a Toshiba 57H81, I am connected using the HD1 color screen. To view the HD broadcast like, KING 5 news only when they are using the HD set, to get a full screen 16X9 pricture, I have to use Picture size 2.

When I had Dish, the HD into the color stream was full size with no ablity to change the picture size.

If it's not 16 x 9 then it's not an actual HD signal. Yes, all the HD programming is in 16x9. Even when a program contains mixed HD and SD material - like KING5 news switching back & forth between HD & SD cameras - the overall frame is 16x9 HD, with the SD material shown in a 4x3 "window" within the 16x9 area.

Is their any special programing in the HD box that I need to change?

There was no manual for the cable box.

Is their something that Comcast has to turn on at their end for HD?

Do I have a devective box?

Assuming you have the Motorola DCT-5100 or DCT-6200, you can change the settings from the main menu to 16:9. Turn the power off, press and hold the menu button and turn the power back on. This will allow you to set the aspect ratio for use with your TV.

I have the same message regarding $29.99 offering through June but no mention of 3mb.

Roo_man, thanks, that did the trick. The box was set up at 480I 16X9. It looks great now.

Slightly OT - but since KIRO & Comcast ain't gonna give us the Superbowl in HD, here goes:

Anyone in Seattle area have any luck getting DirecTV to say you're eligible to receive their new CBS-HD feed? In the past, out here in North Bend we've been eligible for CBS "distant network feed", according to this web site:
http://directvdnseligibility.decisio...dressEntry.asp

But on the phone, DirecTV says we don't qualify for CBS-HD - why the difference? If anything, it should be *easier* to qualify for distant HD feeds.

this is typical comcast these days. promising, but not yet delivering...

comcast is in the stages of moving the 'standard' cable internet speeds up to 3.0mbps down/256kbps up. however, they're not there yet. last tech I spoke with said around mid-february, but don't believe it 'til you see it...

comcast still has yet to deliver promised HD like starzhd here, although they've been advertising it since early december...

see a pattern?

jimre,

I have waivers from several years ago and get east and west coast feeds of CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX but the key (as I understand it) to getting CBS HD on D* is wether the local (KIRO) CBS station is CBS owned. If it is not, I understand all the waivers don't matter.

brente,
I must say however that I checked my speed using Cnet site and it is 2.5 or above, so perhaps I really have it already. The 29.99 is to entice newbies probably.

... and don't have a moral problem with abusing the return policy like this.

In browsing around http://www.broadbandreports.com, it doesn't appear that we have our speed upgrade yet.

Interesting. I ran the CNET test which currently put me at 2.3 and the two DSL Reports test which put me at 1.7 (up speed of about 240). Both tests are the first time that I have seen anything above the cap of 1.5 since Comcast took over. I thought Comcasts plan was to charge (even more) for the bandwidth above 1.5.

On a related note, I just set up my grandmother on a cable modem down in Longview. Adelphia cable is up to 3mbit for a introductory price about about $25 for the entire first year. Too bad Comcast doesn't have any competitive reason to offer something similar.

Wow, great idea! Then I guess you won't mind if I come eat some of your food and leave the wrappers for you. Maybe I can "borrow" some power tools from you too.....

I got the same results at Cnet this morning. I checked because I was having some connection problems earlier this morning, and quite often over the last week pr two.

I have also been seeing connection issues lately, seems the system will die for a little while then comes back on it's own. Acts like someone is working on a line somewhere. First couple times, I'd unplug the power to the modem for a minuyter and that wouldn't solve anything, then I left it unpluged for about 10 minutes, it started to work, so the next time I just watched the clock, and sure enough, about 10 minutes after it disconnected it reconnected on it's own. Today have seen no disconencts...

I have noticed that periodically, things "stop" and eventually "start" again. Very annoying.

I just got my comcast HD installed yesterday and I'm very pleased. I watched a bunch of crap on INHD that wasn't even interesting, just because it looked so good....

I pulled this list off of a post by jeremyfr from september.. is this still all the HD channels we get?

Chl 100 - Mariners HDTV - 1080i
Chl 104 - KOMO HD - 720p but the box will upconvert to 1080i - 24 hours
Chl 108 - KCTS HD - 1080i - 5pm - 12am
Chl 109 - KCTS Digital Simulcast - 480p - 24hours
Chl 110 - KCTS Kids Digital - 480p - 12am - 5pm
Chl 112 - KCTS Learns Digital - 480p - 12am - 5pm
Chl 173 - ESPN HD - 1080i - 24hours
Chl 549 - HBO HD - 1080i - 24hours
Chl 574 - Showtime HD - 1080i - 24hours
Chl 664 - INHD 1 - 1080i - 24hours
Chl 665 - INHD 2 - 1080i - 24hours

Bloodzombie, I'm getting mine installed Wednesday. Are you in the Seattle city limits? Which box did they give you? I was told that only the 5100 was available (instead of the 6200). According to Friday's paper, you should get King on 105, Kong 106, Q13 113, and WB 114. Not much HD on the latter two. How are your SD channels? Any hookup advice?

Art in Seattle

Actually not much on the latter THREE. I've never seen any HD on KONG (although SD upconversion is decent), FOX is still 480p when it shows widescreen content, and WB has a spattering of shows (the most of all three though) in 1080i.

Honestly, I didn't pay attention to which box it was. I did almost no research on this before I did it, then spent half the night flipping through the 5 billion channels searching for some HD content.

as for hookup advice, I don't reallly have any, the guy hooked it up (he was an idiot, btw... he hooked the cables up, and hte screen only showed the color blue, so he started messing with my tv's color settings to find the other colors, he didn't think that maybe he had the cables hooked up wrong until I politely suggested it). he also unhooked the cable from my monster surge protector, which I put back after he left. I don't yet have a DVI cable, but supposedly that makes a big difference, if your tv has that input.

my SD on the movie channels seems stronger than it the locals, but last night I found it hard to watch the SD stuff, even if it was better programming. Maybe the 'awe' factor will wear off in time, but for now, I'll watch anything that's in HD.

yes, I'm in the seattle limits (west seattle), and I'll check which box they gave me when I get home, and let you know.

what difference does the box make?

Updated list for Redmond as follows:

Chl 104 - KOMO HD (ABC) - 720p but the box will upconvert to 1080i - 24 hours
Chl 105 - KING HD (NBC) - 1080i - 24 hours
Chl 106 - KONG HD - 1080i - 24 hours
Chl 108 - KCTS HD (PBS) - 1080i - 5pm - 12am
Chl 109 - KCTS Digital Simulcast - 480p - 24hours
Chl 110 - KCTS Kids Digital - 480p - 12am - 5pm
Chl 112 - KCTS Learns Digital - 480p - 12am - 5pm
Chl 113 - KCPQ HD (FOX) - 480p - 24hours
Chl 114 - KTWB HD (WB) - 1080i - 24hours
Chl 173 - ESPN HD - 1080i - 24hours
Chl 549 - HBO HD - 1080i - 24hours
Chl 574 - Showtime HD - 1080i - 24hours
Chl 664 - INHD 1 - 1080i - 24hours
Chl 665 - INHD 2 - 1080i - 24hours

Just to update my previous post, Cnet's bandwidth test doesn't seem to be very thorough. I tried several different test sites and most came in between 1.7 and 1.8 Mbps. Cnet and one other one came in at 2.5, which apparently isn't correct.

Chl 173 - ESPN HD is 720p (but VERY little of its programming is HD)

I have found the most consistent speed test to be downloading a 100MB service pack or the like from Microsoft and checking the transfer rate in Kb/sec. When I first signed up for service via AT&T and @home I could download at 500kb/sec (5 Mbps) from Microsoft. Other sites were slower due to limitations on the sending end. As soon as AT&T took over from @home I was throttled down to 1.5 Mbps. I have not checked lately to see how fast things are running.

While is was a blast to download at 5Mbps, I don't think it really matters for most web surfing. Other factors like local caching on the Comcast machinces probably make more difference.

Marcus

I took a good look at my box yesterday, and I still have no idea what kind it is. it doesn't say 5100 or 6200 on the box. I guess you'll be finding out tomorrow anyway. Hope you don't get the same stoner cable guy that I had.

Well it appears that KOMO/KCTS HD have launched today for those in Gig Harbor, Bremerton, and Hansville.

Yay! I'll have to check when I get home. Does one need to do anything in particular, or do the new stations get automatically added to the box?

How does it look for HD PVR in time for the Olympics? With that and CBS HD, I'd be a really contented camper.

They're automatically mapped into the box nothing you need to do.

Jeremy, is there any chance you could ferret out the general DVR outlook in the Seattle area? In the recorder forum, Ken H was of the confident opinion that some markets would be rolling out the 6208 in a month or so, while others will be waiting for the 6408.

I guess ultimately it doesn't matter; we'll get it when we get it. If it's going to be a while, I can experiment with recording at a friend's house in Seattle. If not, I won't go to the effort.

Thanks,

--Mike