Portland, OR - Comcast - Page 101

If he was in Beaverton I would expect it to, this issue seems to effect only those of us on the east side.

My mother-in-law purchased a nice HDTV with QAM capabilities nine months ago. She subscribes to expanded basic (analog) service only. She was receiving all of the local HD channels (the ones that also broadcast in HD) plus some of the other unencrypted digital channels. Several months ago the quality of the reception went downhill. The QAM tuner still acquires the channels, but for every one there is severe audio and video dropouts and blocking, making them unusable.

We finally hauled the set down to my house in Portland, hooked it up, and all was well. Conclusion: Comcast's feed to her house is at fault.

She just had a repair call. The repairman checked connections, replaced the lead from her wall to the set (it made no difference), and declared that there is nothing to be done. He called his boss in her presence and reported that the boss also said there is nothing to be done. He also told her that upgrading to digital with HD would not make any difference in the ability to watch HD. He also said that others in Vancouver have the same problem. He said goodbye.

Any insights? What further action should we take? She (and I) are now completely **bleep**off at Comcast. I know we can hook up an antenna and get HD over the air, but she was actually willing to upgrade her service to Digital Started + HD to get this to work.

Thanks in advance for all useful advice

The cheapest simplest thing is to try a Radio Shack CATV amplifier to see if boosting the signal fixes it. It's possible that they did something in the neighborhood that reduced everyone's signal level.

Are you using RG-6 cable all the way to the TV? The smaller RG-59 cable that comes standard with most products will cause some signal loss.

Thanks, I'm pretty sure the cable from the Comcast side to her TV is RG-59, so I'll try a run from there to the TV with some RG-6Quad. Unfortunately, I couldn't be there for the service call, but I assume he checked signal strength. According to the TV (Toshiba) signal strength on HD channels is one bar short of full. Is that enough to cause signal corruption? I'm wondering if there isn't any some equipment problem out in the Comcast system.

Thanks for the reply

My voice was finally strong enough to call. The rep gave me the same old "the 788 guide looks fine here in Beaverton" story. But when I pressed him to check the Portland head end, he verified that he saw only TBAs on 788too. He promised to get someone to work on it.

No, this guy claimed he was looking at the Portland feed. I still have the issue; going on two weeks now...

Interesting. My CSR (Simon, with a british accent) claimed he did see the problem when looking at the Portland feed. Tell your guy to talk to Simon.

I contacted Comcast about the 788 issue via their email link. They sent back the most worthless reply ever, two days after I'd submitted the ticket. The response indicated that they either didn't read the message at all, or they completely lack reading comprehension skills.

I have to say that DirecTV is looking more and more tempting given the broader selection of HD content at lower prices. I keep thinking that I'll miss seeing the Blazers games if I switch, and then I realize that I've already missed them since the 788 guide is busted...

Every email response I've ever received from Comcast was exactly like that. I think they must use chimpanzees as their first-level email CSRs. It usually takes me two or three replies before I get any indication that they even understand what I'm complaining about. And then I have to say things like, "do you people even bother to read what I wrote?" or some such. By that time, it's a point of honor with me, so I just keep replying, knowing that they're obligated to reply back, and that each reply costs them something and at some point they'll escalate to someone who can actually read.

I find that's true of most email responses. I go to great lengths to reduce an issue to its simplest form, detail everything I tried, and what the results were. The initial response is usually a cookie-cutter response telling me to try things I already told them I tried.

But on the topic, I'm in Tigard, and the guide is showing programming information for 788.

Right, we're served by the Tualatin head end. Goes to show it's a pretty localized problem.

FWIW, the guide data for 788 is back for me.

On the other hand, the signal might be too strong. People with TiVo HDs have needed to put attenuators between the TiVo and the wall to get the SNR down from 37/38 to 31/32. My TiVos report 100% signal strength, yet still get uncorrected errors. I don't have any attenuators, although I've tried added an extra splitter, which can also reduce the signal strength. That didn't get the SNR down to where I want it, and anyway, I plan on switching to FIOS (for other reasons) before trying to fix this. The cable co boxes seem to be "tougher" when it comes to signal strength, which is one reason why the techs will see readings within a good range that may mess up other devices.

Mine's back too. But now the station is listed as "Mojo +" instead of just "Mojo." Maybe the TBD problem happened when they tried to change the station name.

Yeah, I noticed the "+", but to be candid, I couldn't remember if it was new or not.

I saw an expansion of the "MOJO+" name somewhere else (not in the main guide, maybe when doing a program search or something?) and it showed "MOJO+Trailblazers". So it seems it's just an indication that they use that channel for all the extra periodic HD programming they have no where else to stick I guess .


ron

I needed a box to go with the small HDTV I just picked up for the bedroom so I picked up a DCH3416 from Comcast.

If anyone else has one, do either or both of the "REC" indicators light up when you are recording?
Mine don't and it's a little hard for me to just trust that it's recording when it's supposed to.

According to the last Comcast CSR I talked to, the REC light is "intentionally" disabled. The reason being that some people got confused with the red LED of the DCT generation! I haven't got a clue what was so confusing, but that's a different topic. I made my usual pitch about making this an option (with a firmware upgrade) so that the users who want to see the light have the ability to activate it from the menu. We'll see how that pans out.

I could never keep straight what all the lights meant anyway. If I want to make sure something is really recording, I just go to the recorded programs list and see if the program I think is recording is actually on the list. It means you have to turn the TV on, but if it's there, it's being recorded.

I just picked one up at the NE Sandy location. The record lights do not work. I don't know why but its not surprising after having comcast for 2.5 years. I have found that it works MUCH better than my phase 1 6412 for those interested.

Thanks for the responses. As long as it's by design I suppose I can live with it but I agree with Hormoz, it would be nice if it were an option.

Earl

is anybody researching going with FiOS? i am disappointed with the HD offerings and they already seem to have a better offering than comcast.

You might explore the postings in the Portland Verizon thread here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...7#post12425157

Well, it's 12/11, and the only new channel I see is 713, which is supposed to be KPDX. Unfortunately, it only lists as 713 and has the dreaded TBA syndrome.

i dont know what happened call comcast i did and they knew nothing they did not even know that 713 launched
the more that call the more they will look into it

The SPEED channel is supposed to go HD in February...I sure hope Comcast picks it up.

yeah, only see the add for 713 today, i was yearning to see the Discovery HD channel, damn!

The iGuide for 713 now seems to be filled in (Portland head end), but no other new channels yet.

Any chance of us getting Sci-Fi HD now that it's being rolled out in the Twin Cities area?

Well, we're not even getting the ones they promised us. So I wouldn't hold my breath waiting.