Nashville, TN - Comcast - Page 54

Question here:

I have a Samsung HPS4253 connected via the following thru Comcast:

HDMI out from the HDDvR to HDMI in on a Samsung HTTQ85 HTIB
HDMI out from Samsung HTTQ85 HTIB to HMDI 1 in on the TV

When I have this connected the non HD channels are surrounded by black bars (~5 inches all around). When I had it connected via component cables this was not a problem. Also, when I change the video source on the Tv to "Cable" it doesn't do this (but PQ is poor).

Any suggestions on fixing this situation? I tried to go back to using component cables but it's doing the same thing w/them as well (black bars outside of picture).

I'm having all types of issues tonight with NPT and FOX via clear QAM going to both my TV and to my Fusion5 tuner in my HTPC.

My HTPC tuner will pick up 115.1 with a good signal but not my TV.

Neither my HTPC or my TV will get FOX via QAM. BOth my TV and HTPC show good signal and that they are not getting any error, but I get nothing on the feed. I recorded American Idol and if I run the saved TP file through HDTVtoMPEG2 I can see the show in the preview section but when I try to play the file, I get nothing.

All of the other clear QAM stations are perfect on both the TV and HTPC, even the DOC channel.

Anyone else having issues with NPT and or FOX via clear QAM?


Ronnie

I just tried to watch my copy of tonight's Bones from channel 234 on my comcast HD DVR and it is badly stuttering video. I haven't tried watching more than the first couple minutes - hope the whole thing isn't FUBAR.

Could you have changed the setup of your set? What does the manual advise?

American Idol moved in slow motion for me last night; I couldn't watch it. Other channels seemed fine and my recording of 24 played fine as well. I'm hoping whatever caused the problem wasn't permanently embedded in the recording, but I'm not optimistic.

It was embedded - both my Comcast DVRs recorded the same, slow-jerky-stuttering HD version of Idol. The SD version on my TiVo didn't stutter but the audio was absolutely terrible.

Bad signal issues, I guess.

Anybody else?

-John

hey i am new to the board and new to hd (i got my hdtv and cable in october).i have been satisfied with the comcast hd programing for the most part, but now that the new has worn off i want the most hd channels i can get, i was watching a predators game last night and i saw that the friday game was going to be on fsn hd, that got me to thinking how many other hd channels are out there that i don't get. does anybody know who is the best provider for the most hd programing and i also read somewhere and i may have read it wrong but with direct tv that unlike comcast that even shows that are not the "primetime" shows are all in hd i guess kinda like how everything on tnt is hd. thanks for the help

My NPT is moved to 115.8. The original 115.1 mysteriously disappeared.

Can someone update a complete OTA HD channel for us? Thanks

According to a several published news reports, AT&T is lobbying in favor of a new bill to push for their entry into Tennessee's cable TV provider market. The bill would allow AT&T and electric utilities to sidestep rules that require a provider to get a contract from a local municipality in order to provide service. Against the bill is the association representing cable TV operators and many of those same local municipalities which would lose some control of the licensing of new operators.

As someone who is lobbying to get on Nashville's CATV board, I have mixed emotions about this. Here's where I see things:

1. Competition is always a good thing. Right now the only competition that Comcast has right now is two satellite companies, both of which have higher barriers of entry for consumers (equipment fees, credit checks, long term committments, etc).

2. Loss of local control may not be a good thing. Local governments often require cable companies to do things for the "public good", i.e., inexpensive basic tier service for the poor, service for all areas (no cherry picking), local access programming, etc. AT&T may argue that they are more like a satellite company that doesn't have to play by those rules, but since we're talking about fiber, copper and coax wiring, that argument won't likely hold.

3. One thing that isn't discussed in all this is that higher speed broadband is coming from the telcos...it has to be in order to make this work. It may not be FIOS though. A friend who owns a local ISP told me that Bellsouth was working on higher speed technology over copper through new technology that would make them competitive with cable modems now and FIOS later. FIOS of course has much more potential bandwidth, but this solution is cheaper and could be rolled out faster (in theory). Whether this is enough to handle video bandwidth or not is an interesting question.

This bill has already started a huge fight over the subject on Capital Hill. If it passes, I doubt it will be in the current form since I think AT&T would lose. But I think that AT&T will really push to get into the busines here since it's more profitable for them to get back into the TV business long term over infrastructure they already know and control (versus their old CATV business years ago). Being a glorified ISP and phone company won'y likely be enough of a profit motive for them and with Comcast selling phone service now as well as Internet and TV, AT&T sees this bill as a logical extention to their overall plans.

Stacy Briggs of the TN Cable Telecommunications Association said that the bill in question would allow a telco to cherry pick the neighborhoods to provide service to, saying "We expect Belle Meade not Bordeaux will get the benefit of competition." As someone who grew up in Bordeaux, I can say that not all of Bordeaux is low income or working class....far from it actually. Ironically, Bordeaux was the first Nashville neighborhood to get cable back in the late 70's. It was the closest residential area to MetroCenter where the cable company was, and still is, located (what name were they back then?). Bordeaux was the beta test for all of Nashville. I remember my school classmates in Belle Meade and Forest Hills having to wait two years for cable.

Thanks for the 115.8 info! (I guess they switched the sub to following their "subchannel # = their SD channel #." Like they do for 2 is 92.2 ,4 is 93.4 , 5 is 92.5, and 6 (local 17 SD on cable) is 93.6.

That makes perfect since now why I still got NPT on my HTPC tuner card. The Fusion software scans for subchannels on the tuned channel in the background every time I flip to a channel. I bet it did the scan on 115 when I tried to flip to 115.1 and saw that 115.8 was the first good signal and tuned it in.

AFAIK: The FOX issue last night was a Comcast issue. FOX 17.1 OTA was fine last night. I flipped from QAM to OTA at the beginning of Idol when I noticed the issue and never had a problem. During commercials I'd switch back to QAM and it was always messed up. I checked it this morning and the FOX QAM was back to normal.


Ronnie

Sevenfeet: i read that in the city paper today and i was hoping to learn more about it in this thread, hoping you would have chimed in. Thanks for that. I dont know much about AT&T's service, but after comcast: raised their HD cable box rental rates, put those stupid ads back into the guide, and havent added any new HD channels in our areas that they have in other areas, i welcome the competition.

In the medium to long term it seems to me fully predictable that internet bandwidth to the home will reach the point of allowing IPTV from any and all providers in the USA. In other words a situation very similar to VOIP today - I can get super cheap phone service from dozens if not hundreds of companies, and the stranglehold Bellsouth used to have on me years ago is wonderfully dead.

So I look forward to buying my HD streaming internet TV from some young and smart company in a few years that I may not of even heard of - the competition and pricing will be tremendously better than the current situation, and there will be a great deal more content available.

Bottom line: all I care about is who can get me a 50mbps pipe to my house, for relatively cheap, and I'll buy my other entertainment and communications needs from 3rd parties.

All this franchise talk is mostly irrelevant in such a world.

No, I didn't change any settings on anything. I couldn't find any mention of this in the manual either.

Sevenfeet,

Re: AT&T looking to provide TV services in Tennessee

Any thing that gives price gouging Comcast some competition, we should all be in favor of. That is what America and free enterprise is all about.

Chris

ditto, what he said

Competition is a great concept, but in dealing with utilities, it's a fairly new concept. Long Distance choice has only been around since the late 70's, then came power generation and now TV services over land lines.

Part of the problem with competition is the extreme costs of entry that's typical for this business. In the case of what became Comcast in Nashville, it took 4 years to wire the city for cable. So only companies who have wide existing line networks are potential competitors. That limits you to phone companies and power utilities.

In the old days, communities gave exclusive contracts to cable providers in exchange for wiring all of a city and providing public services on their networks. These days most of those exclusive deals have lapsed, but the cost of construction still keeps competition at bay in most cases.

The real problem in getting the bill passes is that as written, AT&T will play by a different set of rules versus Comcast, Charter, Time Warner or anyone else (there are a lot of smaller cable coops in rural counties). Again, I can't see the bill getting passed as proposed. I'd love for Comcast to have a serious competitor in this market. But they are a formidable lobbying force in this area.

Wow, I feel really dumb. I didn't realize when you change connections you need to change how the Motorolla device receives the signal. Basically, I had to have the cable box off and press menu, then adjust the screen settings from there. I am still having issues w/my HDMI connection though. Often, the audio is behind the picture. However, once I change channels it seems to work okay.

I'm getting ready to buy an HDTV. I currently have digital bronze and a Motorola DCT2425 box from Comcast, plus a TIVO Series 2 DVR. I am loathe to give up the TIVO functionality (I use Get a Season Pass for almost all my TV viewing and the search functionality so that I never miss my favorite team), but I won't be able to record in HD with my current TIVO box. I hope I won't have to wait too long until Comcast rolls out TIVO to their DVRs.

My plan is to return the DCT2425 and get an HD DVR from Comcast. I'm trying to figure out pricing. I'll have to pay an extra monthly charge of $6.95 for HD and $5.00 for the DVR. I'll cancel my TIVO subscription for a net savings of $1 a month.

I also have a smaller HDTV in my bedroom with all the required tuners. It is hooked directly to the coax plus an OTA antenna. I can receive the local HD channels by either method except that channel 5 won't scan in OTA even though it's the closest to my house! I also get the non-scrambled digital channels via the coax.

Are there any other charges I haven't thought about or any setup considerations that I haven't considered? Is there any better way to set things up and keep the cost about the same per month?

Will Comcast let me swap out the digital box and do all the wiring for the new TV myself?

Has anyone had problems getting an HD DVR in Nashville. I'm hoping there is not a shortage like in other cities?

One more question. Would my current box receive HD channels if I decided not to get the DVR? Would it give me the local HD channels that I get on my smaller TV or would I have to pay the HD monthly fee? I know the monthly fee would be required for ESPNHD, etc.

We are in a similar situation. We have the HD tv with bronze and we are paying for the HD channels because we would need 3 antennas to catch all the HD OTA channels and that would still be missing TNT and ESPN. We are also using a S2 Tivo.
We are going to be giving up on Tivo for the downstairs and get the Comcast DVR, hopefully the 160gb one and save on the Tivo subscription.
Plus you can use a Tivo without a subscription as a time shifting device with no recording, so we will put that in the bedroom to be able to pause live tv and skip commercials.
Additionally, Comcast is getting Tivo software in the next few months according to Tivo and Comcast customer service. So having the Comcast DVR will allow for HD recording with a Tivo interface for hopefully just a few dollars extra.
Let me know how it goes in trying to find a DVR box and whether they are hard to come by.

Got a message on the Cable box this morning:

Effective March 1st. UniversalHD will be on channel 208, National Geographic HD will be on channel 210, A&E HD will be on channel 211.

well thats good. I was hoping for foot network since A&E HD is utterly useless. UniversalHD is a plus though.

Is A&EHD same programs as A&E or a separate lineup?

I anxiously await March 1st. to find out. LOL

I think it is the same because if you go to the guide on channel 41 on some shows it will actually say HD in the program listing. So I am betting it is the same.

I just hope we can get NFL Network in HD as I am surprised it is taking this long to get it but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the message this morning saying we are getting 3 more channels cannto wait to see them.

You mean now there's a network dedicated to feet?

Way, way, way, way too many repeats on the NFL network to make it worth the bandwidth for an always on HD channel. I like they way they replace INHD1 with NFL HD from time to time with HD content (college bowl games, HD game of the week replays, Thursday night NFL games, etc). If you want to watch 16 reruns a day of "Inside the NFL" then it is the channel for you

Dennis

Amen. I've dropped the HD addon on DirecTV until next football season. Of course, they'll probably have gone all MPEG4 by then and it won't make a difference.

I wonder which is the correct add date for the new HD Channels? Is it March 1st per the message via my DVR or March 21st via the letter I got in the mail from Comcast today?

In case you did not notice, D* is doing the same thing as Comcast. They have an HD channel (79?) and they use it from time to time to carry NFL network stuff in HD. So they don't think it is worth doing HD 24/7 either, but will (normally) carry some of the HD content on that channel.

Dennis

crossing my fingers for Mar. 1