Chicago, IL - Comcast - Page 11

Hey hey! I tune into channel 191 today and the program listing reads

191 PBSD1 - HDTV Demonstration

Looking at the extended channel schedule, it looks like they finally fixed this issue. No more guessing what HD show is on next. Nice job, Comcast!

anyone know anything about new stations yet ? On Comcast that is

I am also wondering if they're trying at all to get other channels. I would KILL for HDNet and discovery HD. KILL!!!!!!

Greetings...I have Comcast Digital in the NW burbs and I see Channels 185-191 are assigned for HDTV Channels (CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, Discovery, HBO, Showtime)...the only one I get anything on is the ABC Channel and that's only audio from WLS-TV.

I'm not sure what the deal is with these channels...the screen tells me "This channel should be available shortly"...not one that says I have to pay extra for it. But then, knowing the cable companies, I'm sure extra service means extra charge.

Any info would be welcome.

Pardon me if I am too remedial, but it always pays to start with the most basic questions. There is no extra charge for HD channels, but there is a $5.00 per month charge for the High Definition Cable Box. Based on yuor original quote I am guessing that you only have Digital cable, not High Definition cable.

Here is a checklist which may help you:

1. Do you have a High Definition Television? The HD channels will not work on an analog TV.
2. Comcast Digital Cable is not High Definition cable, which cable box do you have? The digital cable box is dark gray, the HD box is silver.
3. If you have the HD box, and an HDTV, how is it connected to your television, with a single co-axial cable, or with a Red, Blue, and Green RCA type cable called a component video cable.
4. If you have the component video cable, and and HDTV, and the silver HD box, which input are you watching on your TV. It needs to be set to the component video input.

Check all these things. If they all check out, then the installer did not initialize the box correctly. Call a CSR and they can straighten it out.

Good luck,

Mike K.

Thanks for the excellent thread - other than relying on CSR info, how can I find out if the HD channels are available in my town? (Bartlett)

Also, do you have to have Digitial Cable for the HD channels or is it available with analog cable as well?

If Digital Cable is available, then you can get the HD channels. Check their website or call the CSR.

I found the website was not updated for my area though. It said only standard cable, but when I called digital cable was availbe as well as High Speed Internet.

I just moved to Bartlett a few weeks ago and had Comcast install the HD receiver last week. I get all the locals and HBO (didn't bother with Showtime) just fine.

You do need to have digital cable in order to get the HD channels since they are only available in the digital channel lineup. However, if you have a tv that supports 256QAM signals (such as the newer Mitsubishi's with integrated HD tuners) , you can plug the cable line straight to the tv and get non-scrambled HD channels, which includes the local channels. I can't do this on my set but others have done this successfully.

you do not have to have digital cable to get HDTV through comcast...anyone saying otherwise is wrong

It could be true that digital cable is required if you want HBO HD or Showtime HD. Only Basic Cable (about $14) is required to get the unscrambled digital locals (plus $5 for the HD box).

Thanks for all the help, though seems to be some confusion regarding the need for Digital Cable. I'm going to call Comcast, request locals plus HD be added to my current (analog basic cable) and see what happens.

Let me clarify a bit, I was not saying you had to subscribe to a "digital pacakage" in order for the option to get HD channels. Here's what they told me and the installer confirmed:


If you have only analog cable available in your area, no HD channels.

If you have digital cable available in your area, you can order the HD Locals "stand alone" for approx. $15 a month plus $5 for renting the HD box.

Just in case you have not been following the ESPN HD threads....our Comcast just today added ESPNHD on channel 173.

Enjoy!

Tom

It's not HD at the moment...looks like stretched SD material...but I'll be watching the ESPN schedule closely now.

espnHD came on at 3pm here

Ch. 173 shows the "This channel will be available shortly" message. Are any of you getting this too or should I give Comcast a call?

i'd say call em

Cool! So we've got ESPN HD now...

But what is this I hear about Discovery HD supposedly being available to us Chicagoland custmers??? Also, I am reading of "InHD" and "InHD2" any more info on these other potential new channels?

In all honesty ESPN HD is probably the least exciting of the channels for me. Especially cause its only in 720p. (my tv upconverts 720p signals so I cant fully appreciate the format -- I'd rather have the higher resolution that I can display natively and know I'm not missing out on anything.

Thanks guys!

EDIT: Oh also what about Bravo... any word on if we will be getting that anytime soon through Comcast? It is supposedly a CBS channel or whatever, so I'm hoping that the fact that we already have CBS will help.

I just called Comcast and asked them why I wasn't receiving the channel and it seems like none of them know that it's a new channel even though I told them it was just added today. The CSR said they were just "testing" this channel out and that I wasn't a tester so I couldn't receive the channel. Oh well, shows how much they know. Maybe Skokie isn't getting ESPN-HD yet?

On another subject....

The last several days I ahve been getting massive signal drop and pixilation on the HD channels via Comcast. It looks like I am using an OTA on a bad day. Since Comcast gets their signals direct from the broadcasters...should this be happening? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

The first High Definition look at our beloved Bears comes courtesy of ESPN HD on Sunday, September 14th.

They will be carrying the game against the Vikings in Minnesota at 7:30 PM that day. I'm assuming this will be an HD broadcast.

Two weeks later, of course, on Monday, September 29th, is the big Monday Night Football Soldier Field Grand Opening against the Green Bay Packers (boo).

Four other HD possibilities against AFC teams with Oakland on October 5th, (my opinion, this is probably the main game because of the Raiders and would seem to have an excellent chance of being in HD), October 19th against Seattle, November 2nd against San Diego, and December 28th against Kansas City. All these games are at Soldier Field and will be broadcast on CBS. This is assuming CBS does at least one of their games each week in HD as has been rumored.

These are our only chances of Bears regular season HD, unless of course Fox gets their act together, but I'm not holding my breath. But there is always the playoffs.


Mike K

ESPN-HD is still NOT showing up here in Skokie. It seems like everybody else in Chicagoland has it. It still has the "This channel will be available shortly" message on Ch. 173 and I have also checked out the signal from a relative's house on their cable box and it has the same message. The channel shows up correctly on the guide as Ch. 173 and it is labelled as "ESPND". It did come on for a few seconds last night but i'm back to not getting anything coming through yet again. Anybody else in the Chicagoland area (more specifically in Skokie) not getting ESPN-HD?

Thanks for the good analysis, Mike. Hopefully the Bears will get off to a great start, making the Soldier Field AFC games more attractive to CBS.

we can also hope that the preseason games[wmaq]might be in HD also

I would be real surprised if that happened. I don't think there are enough HD production trucks around, and I think the cost would be prohibitive for a local station to provide HD.

We can hope, though. Being a Bears fan, a Bulls fan, and a Cubs fan I've gotten real good at that.

Mike K.

Anybody? I need help! I'm pretty much the only one in Chicagoland NOT getting ESPN-HD right now and I don't want to miss the Red Sox/Yankees game Sunday night...

Is anyone having any trouble with their DCT 5100 freezing up?

On occasion the box freezes up and will not respond to the remote control or manual entry on the front of the box (channels, volume, power on/off).

The fix is to just wait anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute without touching any buttons and then the box will all off a sudden respond to all the buttons you just hit when it wasn't working (channel up/down, channel return, etc.).

Then things seem to be fine until it happens again.

I need to call Comcast and I was curious how widespread the problem was.

Tom

Just a question out of curiosity...how many of you who have Comcast HD service with the DCT5100 are using the Comcast supplied component cables?

They seem to be a good heavy duty set of cables and I've been using them since day one and am pretty happy with them.

For no reason other than to try something else, I think today I'll try the set of component cables I currently have on my OTA STB to see if I can tell any difference.

Anyone else's thoughts?

Tom

My DCT5100 freezes up from time to time in exactly the way you describe, but sometimes rather than unfreezing and quickly executing the pending remote commands it does nothing and displays a message that "the interactive program guide is not available". After the mesaage appears I can press any remote button and the guide reappears.

I'm also using the Comcast supplied cables. It appears as though the performance is very good. I've thought about swapping them with the Acoustic Research cables I have on my DVD player just to get a comparison.

Let us know if you see any difference, and I'll do the same.

Mike K.

I had this problem, but I solved it with a combination of a hard reset (pulled the power plug out of the box for a few seconds) plus fresh batteries in the remote. I'm sure the reset did a lot more than the new batteries, but I figured it couldn't hurt.