Chicago, IL - Comcast - Page 9

HBO was pretty bad for me also.
Justice, IL

I'll add a reply radar, my HBO HD was unwatchable yesterday too....constant breakups and audio drops.

Tom

HBO HD also breaking up here last night. Unwatchable. Called Comcast service.

I was lucky enough to have tech appointment for today. He/she is scheduled to come any time now. If I have any luck I'll be sure to pass any information along to you folks. When I spoke to the CSR yesterday she noted (after checking some emails) that they did have other people calling about HBO, but no specific problems listed.
Keep your fingers and toes crossed. There is no why I will miss the premier of Star Wars II today

Comcast just sent me an email informing me that their HDTV services has been activited in Orland Park. Just passing this information on for anyone who is interested.

If the service tech doesn't believe you, show them this pic. I get this all the time...

Any luck with the tech today Sam? My HBO is still freezing too much to watch...it is so bad it won't even switch stations to HBO.

This is just about three days running with this problem...about time they fix it.

Tom

I spent some time on the phone with a CSR this evening. She tried to explain that since I am a beta tester, and that I can see the regular HBO, that this was OK. I said "I don't think so". I'm specifically subscribing to HBO becaues of HD.

They set up a service call for Wednesday, even though I told them that the problem was very widespread through the service area. They can't seem to figure that out, however, so I guess I'll have the service call. Seems like a waste of a lot of people's time and effort, for a problem that probably doesn't apply to only my home.

This problem seems to coincide with Channel 2 getting added back in to the channel line up. Wonder if there is any correlation. Maybe they'll wake up over there and get this resolved. The rest of the HD looks very good, maybe I'll just drop HBO and keep the rest of it.

Mike K.

The first hour was pretty unbearable - I actually went back to channel 550 to watch the normal HBO East channel. I was surprised to see that the audio there came in 5.1 surround; I thought non-HD channels only came through in stereo.

I switched back to HBO-HD for the last hour of the movie, and it was relatively clean. The audio dropped a couple of times, but the picture was fairly stable and the presentation was pretty watchable.

I have no idea what the heck Comcast did during that last hour, but whatever it was it seems to be working. No lock-ups or drops since 8:30pm or so.

That is a pretty good catch Mike...the timing does seem to be there.

I had very few problems prior to this with HBOHD. Did you get a chance to run that by them?...or are you going to wait until they come out for the service call? Anything is worth a shot at this point seeing as how they seem to have little to no clue as to what is causing the problems.

I watched a very little of the Robin Williams show after Star Wars tonight and didn't see and breakups or audio drops. Is it just happening with HD material?

It is also possible though as FSugino mentioned perhaps they managed to fix something about halfway through Star Wars...

Tom

I didn't go back to it this evening, so I can't really comment on whether it was better or not. I'll probably get a chance to check it out tomorrow.

I mentioned the timing issue between CBS HD and the breakups on HBO to the CSR and the supervisor I talked to earlier in the evening. I don't know if they caught on or not. My impression is that most of these people are not very technically oriented, and all they really know how to do is send out a hit to reset the box. Beyond that they schedule a service call.

Could it be possible this is not a Comcast issue at all, and actually an HBO or satellite problem? Maybe there are sunspots or something, or like at Wrigley Field when the wind blows in. Maybe we're blaming the wrong people................naaah. It's more fun to point a finger at Comcast.

Hopefully, someone there finally figured it out and I can cancel the service call.

Mike.

...too many day games....it's the ivy...the wind always blows in...please don't get me started on the Cubs

...I could easily high-jack this thread with Cub comments. I have been so hesitant to get enthused about the Cubs because I know they'll let me down...but I'm starting to come back around.

It's a three step process for me now...if by July 1 they are still in the running I'll be back on the bandwagon. If by August 1 they are still in the running I'll be leading the charges. If by September 1 they are still in the running I'll be the next president of the United States...see there I go again....

Ah well...if things are not better today I'll have to start pestering tech support too.

Tom

I think this is a local problem - otherwise, we would be seeing scores of messages from other parts of the country.

Ice Age looks and sounds great this morning - not a single hiccup since I started watching an hour ago.

Well, crap - guess which station is on the blink again?

HBO was bad for me last night...it was bad again tonight during Sopranos.

Not as bad as last night, but bad is bad. Video and audio drop outs...I still consider it unwatchable.

Gimme a refund on my $30 install charge and I'll cut Comcast some slack if they admit they are still in the testing phase.....

Nope, no resolution at all.
They are sending another guy out tomorrow. Not sure what he might contribute to this, but I guess it helps.
I was so exited to watch Star Wars, but I guess maybe next time.
The techs and CSR's are stating they are not aware of this being a big problem. Be sure to call and let these folks know.
Luckily the channel was acting up when the tech showed.

QUESTION:
Does anyone notice this problem becomes worse in the evening?

HBO HD was so bad I haven't tuned in for a couple of days. I've been watching Potter for 30 min (4:30 CST)and NO breakup or pixeliz....

Previously I couldn't watch for more than a few minutes...

Fixed???

I'll add my half hour viewing of Harry Potter this afternoon as good to go as well...hopefully it's fixed and not a nighttime thing as Sam mentioned.

Two episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and the first 15 minutes of The Time Machine... not a single glitch!

Now if it'll just stay that way until tomorrow night's repeat of Attack of the Clones...

Looks like I can cancel my Wednesday service call. Not sure what they thought they would find, anyway.

Mike K.

WOW,"The Time Machine" looked incredible,no picture disruptions on HBO last night.

I checked out the last 45 minutes or so of Attack of the Clones while I was home for lunch... flawless! Beautiful surround sound, beautiful picture (it wasn't 2.35:1, but it looked darn good at 1:85:1), and best of all no break ups.

I'll check again tonight, but I think Comcast fixed the problem.

i was told basic channels are 13.84 plus $5 for the hdtv. Also the only ch im looking for is cbs. Every other channel comes in at 100% on my OTA. Until someone comes out with a PVR i wont stick with any provider.

The HD channels are just now getting offered in my area. I just tried ordering the HD channels and was told that I have change my package to a Comcast Digital Silver package to get the channels. Can anyone confirm or rebut this? The rep said they had a mtg about this last week and they were informed this was required to make it work.

I currently have the Silver package that AT&T Broadband used to offer. These two packages seem to be tiered differently. As you may recall, the AT&T Silver is/was 56.99/mo and gave me standard digital cable, ENCORE and two premium channels (ie; HBO and Stars). The Comcast Silver is 64.99/mo and gives the standard digital cable, ENCORE and ONE premium channel. So switching packages from AT&T Silver to Comcast Silver will raise the monthly bill by $8.00 per month and I loose one of my two premium channels.

I'd hate to raise my price by $8.00/mo for the package + $5.00/mo for the box rental and still loose one premium channel - all for the 6 HD channels they are offering.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,
Steve

That flick looked pretty darn good last night. And yep, no break-ups.

According to the WTTW-HD programming schedule there's a new loop of HD programming on this week. The new loop consists of:

* Tracks Ahead
* Chefs A' Field: Culinary Adventures That Begin On The Farm
* It'a An Age Thing (Widescreen SD)
* One World: Japan
* Smart Travels: Europe with Rudy Maxa

Also, to the person who asked about national PBS programs in hi-def: tonight's Great Performances will be shown in HD, pre-empting the programs listed above.

WTTW-HD looks great OTA, and it looks pretty sharp (but not quite as good as OTA) via Comcast cable. One request, though: would Comcast please fix their TV listing so the HD channel programs are shown instead of the normal SD programming? Just a minor quibble, but since the HBO-HD problem was fixed this is all I can personally complain about

I checked out again what I could pick up lastnight. WTTW via cable does not look quite as good as OTA.

Thanks for the tip.

kippjones, you have a HiPix PC don't you? Do you know if the HiPix card supports Comcast's 256QAM over cable? HD over cable is supposed to be available in my area now (Naperville).

The HiPix documentation does not mention 256QAM or 8VSB.

I have a 256qam tuner. During the last month or so, the channels have gone to crap. CBS and Discovery are gone. HBO and Showtime don't exist (they probably exist, but are scrambled).

As a side note, I wouldn't doubt that cbs2 has been relocated to another channel, but haven't been able to find it. Has anybody found any other channels besides the channels in the 113 - 116 range?