Nashville, TN - Comcast - Page 121

I don't know what it is either but it does look like junk. Wish they would do something about it. When I heard the superbowl would be on nbc I was disappointed just because of the picture.

Caught the end of it last night at home and it looked quite rough. I'm not using a box, I'm coming straight from the wall using QAM and HD shows are usually quite sharp but the super bowl was just ugly in comparison.

I have a question and am mainly just curious.

I know someone who had a cable TV issue and when they called Comcast the person said where live (Smyrna) that they now had to have a DTA box to get any cable channels. The rep claimed an HD TV would no longer be able to tune any channels and everything was now digital. Also an old TV that you only wanted basic cable on would no longer work either without a DTA.

Does anyone know if this is true or not? As where I am at I can still get basic cable using an old analog TV and also can get some HD channels using my HD TV tuner on my HD TV. Is this about to change where some sort of "box" will be required on ALL TVs to get anything?

^^True except for OTA signals

Well that is what I always understood. You could still get the basic OTA by hooking cable to an old analog TV or basic OTA HD if you had an HD TV.

However the person I spoke with said, no box, and you get NOTHING.

I have had this problem at work. The insanely cheap small box they provide for basic tv goes out all the time. The signal is split a lot, and I know that has a lot to do with it, but our management believes what comcast says that it won't work without the box. So when it goes out I go around the back of the tvs and run the wire to bypass the box and magically it works. All I have to do is pull in the channels and we end up with around 20 or 30 channels. They (comcast) could still run it completely without the box if they wanted to, but there couldn't be that charge for equipment then.

The box is not needed for locals (Comcast Limited Basic Package). The reason that a box is now required for additional channels is that analog video is not an efficient method for transporting video. Approx 12 SD digital channels or 3 HD digital channels can fit in the same space (6 MHz) as a single analog channel. With limited bandwidth, the only way to add more channels was to remove the analogs.

And I'm all for that, but when tv's now all have atsc tuners built in where is the need for the box?

Previously a trap could be applied to block out analog channels for customers who only pay for limited basic, economy package, or any of the various packages that don't have all the digital starter channels . This is no longer a feasible option with digital channels. So the next step to protect channels is encryption. An ATSC tuner with the ability to decode encrypted channels (Cable Card) is really whats needed.

Any word on when Comcast-Nashville TiVo Premiere users will be able to access VOD?

ice1138 -
The Olympics are coming! Any chance the Universal Sports HD(!) channel will get added anytime soon? I believe it will play a large part in NBC's coverage of the Olympics...we are missing Olympic team qualifying for various sports now.
I'll ask again also - any chance Fox Soccer Channel HD or Gol TV HD get added anytime soon?
Appreciate it.
Thanks

Got a letter saying upgrades are coming 4/25.
What new channels are we getting?

My guess is an increase in the service cost! THAT's the upgrade!

Analog video has had a long run in the Nashville cable system. I can remember the old 36-channel Zenith boxes that were first deployed Bordeaux test market customers when I was a kid. But the frequency real estate is too necessary not to rebuild on with more and more demand to turn over SD channels to HD and add new content channels.

HDTVs have been on the market since 1999 and broad acceptance in the marketplace took place over five years ago. There will still be analog sets in the network for another decade but their numbers will get much smaller over time. Cheap set top boxes make the transition easier.

The real issue is whether Comcast can encrypt these stations. ATSC tuners in TVs are commonplace so tuner boxes shouldn't be necessary for basic customers. It also locks out customers who use non-cablecard related ATSC tuners on media streamers like Boxee or other computer related solutions.

Back in the day there were two packages, Limited Basic and Standard cable (now called digital starter). A filter was used to block service to the limited customers. Then came digital...and encryption was used to block service.
There are now many other packages and Tiers of service that do not have all of the "standard channels". How is Comcast going to ensure that people don't pay for Limited Basic and then get all of the Digital Starter channels if they're are not encrypted? And it's not just limited to "Limited Basic" (OTA package), there are also many other sub tiers of service that are now available that do not include all of the "standard channels" (Economy Basic, Hispanic Package, Family Tier, etc). The encryption is a necessary part of the system used to offer multiple service options to customers.

ice1138 -

Got a letter saying upgrades are coming 4/25.

Are we getting new HD channels?

What other "upgrades"?

What is the deal with CSSHD (channel 1671)? It never seems to have a picture and I have to watch the standard definition channel.

Good question. I have the same problem.

Make that three of us. I've been wondering for a while. Put the station on to be greeted with said 'black' screen of nothingness.

Anybody else getting these weird audio blips that sound like, for lack of a better description, short bursts of static? It almost has an impact kind of feel to it. When I first heard it it sounded like something had hit the ground but it was on TV. I was paranoid that it was my new TV, but it records to the DVR so I know it's in the cable signal. I mainly hear it on TBS and occasionally on Comedy Central. I wish I could describe it better, but I've had Comcast for years and only recently have I ever heard something like this.

And speaking of Comedy Central, I constantly have video drop-outs and macro blocks on that network.

I'm using the Motorola DCX3400M DVR box.

Happens on our TiVO's too. Seems to be more prevalent with NBC shows. Audio issues and they seem to take place about 10 minutes into the show. Frustrating.

I record a lot of stuff OTA on both my TiVo HD and with a WMC PC. I hear a lot of audio drop-outs on the TiVo on cable recordings that do not happen on the PC or the TiVo when it is recording OTA however, there are some audio issues I noted for awhile on NBC that was over cable and OTA. However, it seems to have cleared about 2 or 3 weeks ago.

I've got one of the small Pace digital boxes, and in the last few weeks we've started to see the screen black out on certain programs and On Demand content.

I suspect it might be Comcast starting to enforce HDCP. The box is connected via component to my AVR since I ran out of HDMI ports. Today to test, I tried to run a Justified episode off of On Demand on an extra HDMI cable that I ran directly through to the TV while leaving my TOSLINK audio to the AVR. Things worked just fine that way.

Later I think I'll try disconnecting my PS3 and hooking the cable box up to the AVR to make sure that isn't where it's failing in the chain, but I'm pretty sure it's the component connection that's at fault.

Is it right that Comcast is enforcing some HDCP restrictions to block HD analog content, or am I just inferring that and something else is wrong?

Comcast has made no changes for HDCP. What programs are you consistently seeing the black out?

Channel 5 SD will work, but if I try to watch the HD version on 1005, it goes black. Some HD channels work, such as 1008 (NPTHD), 1017 (IonHD). Some I tested would give about 2 seconds of video on a show in HD before blacking out the video (1018). In that case, it seemed as soon as the on screen display would time out, the video would as well.

Some On Demand works. I just tested both SD and HD episodes of 30 Rock, but I can't watch Justified episodes without black screens.

If I switch to the HDMI cable, things work fine.

Do I just need to swap the box?

EDITED after some more experimenting.

Interesting comment and I have no idea what would cause that but I justed wanted to chirp in since just yesterday I had an intersting incident regarding channel 5.

I have season passes on my TiVo for channel 1005 (5-HD) for Thursday night. When I got home and checked my Tivo, the shows scheduled to record on channel 1005 were actually changed to 5-SD. The following Thursdays channel 5 were still on 1005 and the season pass was still on 1005. I have no clue as to why suddenly they were going to be record on 5. I changed them all and it worked. I just don't understand the mystery.

I got the letter stating that after 6/27, all TV's must have digital adapters to work with Comcast. I just have the limited basic cable. Does this mean they are encrypting even the local channels? I thought where was some law where they couldn't do that. Does this mean my HDHomeruns are about to be worthless??

Comcast is removing all of the analog versions of these channels. The digital versions will remain unencrypted. The letter is just highlighting that all TVs will need some sort of digital tuner in order to access channels.

I'd like to thank Comcast for not allowing me to watch the Celtic/Hawks game last night. It was showing as playing on two stations: one (NBATV) had the banner up that it couldn't show it due to restrictions (which I've seen for Grizzly games and those appear on Sports South) while the other station was showing a poker game. There was no station/option to see the game...needless to say it pissed me off.
ps - CSSHD continues to not broadcast anything yet it 'should'.

I would call Comcast support and ask about this except everytime I call them I have to (1) spend an extra 10 minutes trying to convince them the number I'm calling from is indeed the one associated with the account and has been for 16 years, (2) hold for 5 minutes for them to fix their account information so the next time I call the phone number will be right (but it never is), (3) unplug the set-top box for 5 minutes and restart it and my TiVo to prove to them the problem isn't on my end, (4) get transferred to someone else that wants to go through the same ordeal as (1)-(3), (5) get disconnnected, and finally (6) sit though a sales pitch for triple play (like I want their phone service when they can't even get cable right).