Denver, CO - Comcast - Page 131

[quote=dvddud;18860481]For those keeping count, Comcast now offers 130 HD channels.

Nationally, cable is playing catch-up to satellite providers DirecTV and DishNet in terms of HD channel offerings. Charlie Ergen's Colorado-based Dish Network boasts 200-plus HD channels. DirectTV has more than 160 HD channels.

This is VERY deceiving. Both DirecTv and Dish count all there HD-PPV channels and their regional sports channels as "HD Channels". Comcast on the other hand, does NOT do that (even though they do have the same HD PPV movies On Demand, they just do not use a separate channel for them like the competition does!). So when you take away those channels as well as pay channels (like HBO), here are the updated #s of HD channels:

COMCAST = 76
DIRECTV = 77
DISH = 62

The HD war is clear now who is the leader. Especially when you factor in thousands of hours of HD On Demand content for NO additional charge! I'm not saying that Comcast is perfect, but these are the facts that the competition tries to camoflauge to deceive customers!

After a month of having Comcast "HD" my opinion is that its average (HD-Lite) at best. They're obviously trying to transmit more HD through a system that can't really handle it so the over-compression results in a macroblocking mess during major motion. Plus, not being able to Tivo the HD channels due to no guide data is a negative. I refuse to watch live TV due to the over-abundance of commercials. When we called Comcast about cancelling they asked why so we told them about the Tivo guide data problem and of course they claimed no-one else has complained and we should have a technician come out. My understand upon reading back through this thread is that its bee a problem for several months. Perhaps when Comcast get their act together we'll return to them, if only because of Tivo.

If you re-run guided set up and choose "Comcast Suburbs" as your option instead of "Comcast"...all the guide information will be correct on your HD TiVo. Just make sure when you do it that you check mark all the channels you receive.

I had tried that several times before with no success but tried it again last night and this time it worked! I was even able to use my real zip code (80026). I now have guide data for channels in the 700s and 800s. Most are OK but some are incorrect.

What is incorrect? Remember the duplicate channels (ie:locals, etc) will eventually be remapped to their new home in the 700 and 800s but for now still are in the 600s. So the guide will show the new home for them but the channels are not tuned in yet under their new channel #s.

The HD expansion hasn't happened yet here in Fort Collins, but when it does (late July, early August?), can I expect to see the MLB network in HD? It seems to be conspicuously absent from the HD channel listings I've seen for other areas.

Yes you will... I get the MLBHD channel in crystal clear HD on Channel 690

Comcast has sent out several messages to us (Boulder County) about the change that would occur "July 6, 2010." It appears that they are slowly eliminating analog channels, replacing those channels with a message to call the 1-877 number. But so far, we haven't seen the radical change to the HD channels.

Hi,
Those are 2 different changes that are going to happen. The first stage of Comcast's upgrade is to go all digital which means you will need DTA boxes (digital converters) on any TV that doesn't have a cable box on it. This will allow you to be able to receive the channels in analog on a TV without a digital cable box. Once the full digital conversion is done, then they will be rolling out the new HD channels to you. So hopefully by the end of the summer you will be getting all the new HD channels.

Hope that helped.

For those who are curious (or just need some bragging rights,) these are the national non-premium HD channels that are (or will be when the digital conversion is complete) available on Comcast in the Denver area, and not currently available on DirecTV.

AMC
E!
Fuse
G4
Gospel Music Channel
History International
Headline News
Home Shopping Network
IFC
Investigation Discovery
Lifetime Movie Network
NFL RedZone
Outdoor Channel
QVC
Style Network
TruTV
Turner Classic Movies
TV One
WE

When everything is added up, Comcast has 74 HD networks and DirecTV has 62 (excluding locals, foreign language, premiums, PPVs, RSNs, exclusive channels, and sports seasonal subscriptions.)

See, not everything I post about Comcast is negative.

What about the 20 new HD channels I get that are in Spanish? Those don't exactly do much for me or anyone else in my non Spanish speaking family.

Those were not included in my counts. Edited the post to reflect that.

I decided to ditch Comcast after only a month and stay with DirecTV for a while longer. When/if Comcast get their act together I may try them again.

new line up went through as scheduled.

Well, while I was in the hospital, my M-I-L had to call Comcast out because of problems with her "new" DTV STB. The service tech ended up replacing her DTV STB. That makes her third DTV STB for her digital conversion starting at the end of May. So much for a "seamless" transition from Comcast analog to Comcast digital. I've commented before that these so-called "full-function" STBs look to be reconditioned and decontented receivers returned by Comcast customers in the past. IOWs, they are crap and it isn't surprising they are so unreliable.

Zip - 80218

Got the new channels on my Motorola Cable box, but had to add them manually to my TivoHD.... The Cable Box gets the guide info, but the Tivo doesn't....

I guess I have channels, just don't know what is on.

I have a Tivo for our main HDTV and two DTAs for the bedroom HDTV and my computer HDTV tuner in the office. By using a splitter and an A/B switch I was up to recently able to get the local channels in HD:

4.1
6.1
7.1
9.1
20.1
31.1
in the bedroom and on my computer. A few days ago I could no longer get these channels any more. It appears that I will now have to get a HDTV antenna.

Will I have to get a larger roof/attic antenna or will a small indoor antenna work? Can anyone reply about their experiences? I live NE of Alameda and Colorado in Denver.

Still waiting for the new expanded HD lineup. Thanks.

Hilltop80246, I sent you a private message.

I near Alameda and Fairmount. I noticed the other day that I have started to get all the new HD channels.

Start with a cheap set-top, indoor antenna (e.g., the second cheapest one available at most Walmart stores is about as good as set-top VHF/UHF antennas get) and see if you can get all the local channels. Others I've worked with have had amazing success with that set-top antenna, but it really depends on the terrain between your location and LOM, plus the signal interferring obstructions near your home. If that antenna doesn't work, return it to Walmart for a refund. At that point you will need and outdoor antenna mounted either in your attic or on your roof.

Take this one step at a time.

Is it the general consensus of this thread's contributors that Comcast is encrypting the local DTV broadcasts (the local DTV broadcast is in HD, Comcast down-rezzes it to give you your locals in a digital starter package) and that they will no longer be available via Clear QAM?

If so, that's pretty cheesy of them and if I thought my M-I-L had LOS to the Dish Network satellite, I'd have her with Dish HD (for less money than her Comcast Digital Starter package) before the week is out.

NO, it is NOT the consensus that Comcast is encrypting the local DTV broadcasts.

In Erie, I can receive 54 clear QAM channels and 27 analog channels. As far as I know, Comcast is required by law to provide the local stations in clear QAM. Among the 54 clear QAM channels, I receive 2.1, 4.1. 6.1, 7.1, 9.1, 14.1, 20.1, 30.23, 31.1, 50.1 and 59.1 in HD.

I will note that when I do a channel scan, eight duplicate channel numbers appear in my list. 2.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 20.1, 20.1, 50.1, 59.1. Some of these duplicate channels provide the same programming as their duplicate channel and some do not. I have to be careful which of the duplicates I remove from my active channel list.

Does anyone know when the city of Boulder should be seeing the new HD channels?

General consensus on this subject is irrelevant. It's Comcast corporate policy to pass all the local HD they carry in clear QAM. Any exception to this is a mistake in a given local area, and will be corrected.

Unfortunately, due to system maintenance issues, Comcast changes QAM channel locations on a somewhat regular basis. This results in subscribers using QAM tuners losing local HD channels on a somewhat regular basis. The next result is the incorrect assumption Comcast is intentionally making local HD channels unavailable. In most cases rescanning for channels can reacquire the missing ones, if subscribers are aware of the potential for finding missing local HD channels in new locations (new channel numbers).

In some cases Comcast has to correct errors made during the maintenance process for all the local HD channels to be available again. If local HD channels are missing afrer rescanning, a call to Comcast for service is in order, but most Comcast CSRs do not know what QAM is and it may take a number of calls to speak to someone who understands and is willing to help. You will usually speak with someone who will tell you that HD channels are not available without one of their HD boxes, which is obviously incorrect.

Why, you may ask, don't all Comcast CSRs know what QAM is? The answer is because they have so few QAM customers that it just doesn't come up that often, and most CSRs forget the brief training on QAM they may receive.



This is also irrelevent, for two reasons. First, the FCC has never enforced any potential rules or regulations regarding this subject. Second, the existing FCC rules and regulations are not clear, and do not call out what local cablecos are required to do regarding this subject. This has been discussed at AVS for over a decade and no one has ever produced definitive FCC rules or regulations regarding cable carriage of local HD in the clear.

As of Feb. 17, 2009, all U.S. TV stations are expected to cease broadcasting in analog and commence digital-only operations. For viewers with digital tuners and cable customers subscribing to digital cable service, this changeover should not be a problem.

For the 40 million households that subscribe to analog-only cable service, things could be different. Lacking the necessary equipment to decode DTV signals, many of these viewers will be reliant on their cable companies to provide a viewable signal.

With this in mind, the FCC adopted rules that will help ensure cable subscribers can still watch their local TV stations after the DTV transition. Until now, there were no rules mandating how digital broadcast signals would be provided to analog-only subscribers.

The new rules will require cable operators to provide the digital signal of local TV stations to their analog subscribers in an analog format. Alternatively, the signals may be provided in just the digital format, but only if all subscribers have the necessary equipment to view digital signals. The FCC also affirmed that cable operators must carry HD broadcast signals without material degradation.

Q. Where does it say they must be in clear QAM, or other language that means they must be unencrypted?
A. It doesn't.

While the meaning of the last sentence is certainly open to debate, interpreting it to mean "unencrypted and available in the clear" actually is more logical and makes more sense than any other interpretation I can think of. While the former interpretation could be of interest to the FCC, any other logical interpretation would be of little interest to the FCC (i.e., not their purview and they really wouldn't care).

Since my last comment was removed for stating pretty much the same thing, it's nice to see that others agree. Must-Carry rules were initiated in 1992 by Congress. FCC-updated Must-Carry rules do exist and are enforced in spite of what some may believe. The rules have survived legal attacks by cable operators. What is important is that Comcast IS meeting the requirements of providing HD broadcast signals without material degradation in clear QAM, the only digital cable format the public can directly view. If you are not receiving the locals in HD, then something is wrong and needs to be fixed.

Must carry and providing local HD in clear QAM are two completely different issues.


Agree.

The FCC also affirmed that cable operators must carry HD broadcast signals without material degradation. For Comcast, clear QAM is the only way to meet the "must carry HD" requirement that I am aware of. If there is some other way, feel free to explain how. As noted by CEB II, encrypted QAM would not be in the FCC's area of concern.

I am at a loss to understand what point you are trying to make since we both agree that Comcast IS providing clear QAM HD for the local broadcast channels.