Seattle, WA - Comcast - Page 60

I honestly and whole heartedly can say I haven't got a clue and I wish I knew anything even having a muscle twitch about it would make me happy.

Honestly I'd say that they'd wait for the 6408 in this area the biggest reason why is they never announced DVR in this area so there is no "promises" to keep unlike other areas that were told they would get the product by now.

Does anyone know how to get into the setup menu on my cable box to change the input or tv type?


right now it's set to 1080i/16:9 which is what I usually want, but since the superbowl isn't in HD, I'd like to change it to 4:3 because right now my tv won't let me use the "4:3 expanded" because my tv senses a 16:9 input.

power off the unit. then press the menu button. this will display the setup menu.

btw - this link will help... http://cjhengineering.com/DCTHDFAQ.htm

Home, waiting for the installer to show up. I've given up on waiting for the 6208 to roll out before signing up, now that the networks (minus Cox's CBS) are available.

I've got component cables, toslink, and stereo RCA cables hooked to the switchbox and receiver, and hanging out of the rack. The old sat gear taken out, and waiting to be traded in.

Tonight, I'll be able to bitch about something I have, rather than about something I wish I had.

Is the DVI port active (I assuming/hoping for a 6200), yet (need to search)? I may need to buy another switchbox...

--Mike

Comcast provides the component cables. You may want to use theirs, since they'll probably forget you own the cables if and when you need to return all their equipment upon service termination.

And they are actually decent quality cables. I was pleased with what they provided when they did my install.

Ron

that's what I was gonna say.

great info, thanks! I had no idea that there were so many people who were so passionate about hdtv. (it's all completely new to me).

Too bad none of the passionate ones have any influence over Cox/KIRO.

Wareagle, you beat me to it. Couldn't agree more.

Andy

Had my HDTV install yesterday for my 34XBR800. Very smooth. Got the 5100 box in the Seattle area. Not much to watch but what there is looks great. I was watching the Australian Open on ESPNHD and it looked very good. Colors were vibrant and the picture was sharp. I'm assuming that it wasn't true HDTV but was a rather good stretch job. It looked much better than the digital or the analog ESPN. The ESPN basketball game in HD looked fantastic.

I've got a great workaround for using my VCR. I thought this was going to be a big problem with timeshifting. Here's how it goes. The cable is split at the wall, one end into the box, the other into the SVHS VCR. The VCR is connected through the S cable to Video 1. Box is connected to Video 6. The box is connected to the SVHS through the L2 inputs. I can timeshift all I want through the analog channels and I can also record any ONE cable station including HBOHD through the L2 line. With my VCR, I can just select the direct Channels for the analog stations or L2 for the digital stations. I have to leave the box turned on to the correct station. Seems to work great. HBOHD on SVH looked great. It is windowboxed but could be stretched to a correct aspect ratio with the Zoom mode.


Thanks for all of the help from this group.

Art in Seattle

Yesterdays Wall Street Journal had an article outlining the conflice between Comcast (and other Cable Cos) and Viacom/CBS. It basically confirms what has been discussed here....CBS is trying to extort money for the HD channels and the cable companies are balking. Don't hold your breath for CBS any time soon from the sound of it...some markets may get the CBS signal earlier than others though.

What about Cox? There seems to be more involved there than just CBS. At any rate, the more daylight shining on this, the better.

I hate that they stretch that ESPNhd station. Why can't they just broadcast it right?

all I can say is it looks like Directv is now sending out the east & west coast HD feeds of CBS and I'm getting both... so, scr*w kiro & cox...

Shhhhh.... don't tell anyone-- you shouldn't be getting it since KIRO is not owned by Viacom.

If you are lucky, it will stay on until the Super Bowl (maybe they are allowing everyone access until then on purpose), but there is no way it can last (unless there is an agreement between Viacom and Cox that allows it-- which is very doubtful).

yeah, it's probably too good to last...

here is the link with the details...subscription required though:

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1...Fentertainment

And a caption from the article:

HIGH-DEF DISAPPOINTMENT

Some areas where cable companies have struck deals to carry the Super Bowl on HDTV, or not.*

Comcast
Yes: Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and Dallas
No: Portland, Ore., Cleveland, Seattle, Sacramento

Time Warner Cable
Yes: New York, Houston, San Diego
No: Albany, N.Y., parts of Ohio, Portland, Maine

Cox
Yes: Las Vegas, Phoenix, Orange County, Calif.
No: New Orleans, Omaha, Neb., Wichita, Kan.


*Some cities have more than one cable operator

Source: the companies

From http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/...ss/7834474.htm

Some HDTV users on losing side of Super Bowl

"Cox Communications Inc. is going to be able to show the Super Bowl in HDTV in 11 of its top 20 markets. That number would have been 12, but in Omaha, tensions were so high earlier this month that the CBS affiliate, KMTV, stopped providing Cox its high-definition signal. Some 2,500 Cox subscribers have HDTV sets in that area. "We can't give away everything we have," says Jeff Smulyan, chairman of Emmis Communications Corp. of Indianapolis, which owns KMTV and 15 other TV stations."

Hmm... Jeff Smulyan, where have I heard that name before?

This probably explains how KIRO Radio (owned by Emmis) lost the Mariners. Now he's doing to Cox what KIRO TV is doing to Comcast.

Smulyan funny how even though spelled differently thats a word that is used as slang for money hehe sorry I notice the dumbest things

Jeremy

I also have the CBS HD East & West feeds on D* as well. HD Superbowl yaay!

Ron

I hate KIRO.

Oh, well, since I'm hosting a Super Bowl party, I'll be too busy to actually watch...

I'm getting ready for my party to.. Have my hptc ready to go with my Silver Sensor antenna sitting atop my CBS deficient cable box.. :-)

Those of you in OTA range...I hate you all...

--Mike where'd that voodoo doll get to?

Yesterday I gave up my last hope on KIRO and Comcast getting it together for at least the Superbowl. As a last ditch attempt, I picked up a Terk TV55 antenna and have been scrambling all over outdoors this morning trying to get any kind of OTA signal at all.

Absolutely no joy here in Sammamish. Not even a single bar on the signal meter on my Toshiba 57HX93.

I guess it's no HD for my Superbowl party. This sucks.

It's really too bad that the Superbowl is on CBS. Even if we get KIRO the day after the Superbowl it will be too little too late for me. This has really soured my attitude toward KIRO and will affect my viewing habits.

I stopped watching David Letterman and am enjoying Leno. KOMO's news in hd is fantastic - don't miss the KIRO newcast at all....

That's really what I don't understand. Don't they realize that by not giving this to Comcast that they are losing viewers? I guess we are too insignificant to matter, but personally I never turn on KIRO at all because I refuse to watch SD programming. Now I have an antenna and will watch the game using that, but it's sort of a pain to switch over to the antenna and it's not something I do for day to day viewing.

Most of what I watch on CBS seems to have been created by people with very few, dark crayons in their boxes (e.g., CSI shows), so HD would probably be wasted on them, anyway. (Perhaps it's a reflection of my taste, too!) Maybe I'll try the same approach toward the Super Bowl as I used for the Sugar Bowl -- forgot it was on.

I agree with you about the KOMO news -- is there any way we could get the KING producers to watch it and grab a clue? The crude way KING does its switch from SD to HD is very annoying, as is the audio volume changing.

Leno vs. Letterman is definitely no contest now, too. HD really does add to the studio shows. (Not sure I'd want to see Dave's ill-fitting shiny double-breasted suits in HD, either.)

CSI looks great in HD, with all those Vegas exteriors. I haven't watched CSI Miami (because I don't like it at all), but the Miami exteriors should look just as good. CBS does have the better looking HD, and all I can say is I'm glad I bought my OTA set up a long time ago.

I don't know if it would make a difference or not, but the Terk antennas are not held in very high regard. If you still feel like trying, see if any of the Radio Shack's around have a either a 15-2160 or 930-0998 (aka double bow tie). I think that the double bow tie is actually an indoor antenna, but putting it outdoors for at least the game shouldn't hurt it.

Radio Shack will accept returns if they don't work for you.