Portland, OR - Comcast - Page 143

No, either one will leave you with that "ripped off" feeling. Those boxes are not sold to the public here so most of those on eBay are either stolen or unreturned equipment. Even if by slim chance they were originally purchased in Canada, you still can't get them authorized to use on Comcast's system.

I seriously doubt Comcast will let you use them on their system because DCT and DCH Motorola units are not sold to the public .... If they are on eBay they are probably non-returned or stolen items.

If you want to own your own DVR you have to buy like a Tivo unit but those do not support On-Demand.

Call Comcast first to confirm what I've just said before you buy anything cable related from eBay.

around 1:30 am comcast started to enc. the channels that the dta's are useing so we are starting to loose clear qam as told in a prev. post

RIP ClearQAM: 2008-2009.

So far here they took out MSNBC, the weather channel, toon network and true TV. If they are trying to claim they are protecting their content they have a weird way of doing it as I doubt many folks cap anything off most of those.
I hope they end up loosing customers as many don't want to pay extra for a box and were happy with what they got in the clear for their money. I really don't want to put those POS "free" boxes online either but we'll have to see how this goes. All the locals so far are still in the clear in HD and SD.

Hi all, I receive comcast extended basic through a converter box to my analog set with no problems. I also own a new LCD TV connected via coax directly without a box. I watch network shows in HD on the LCD. I've noticed an issue with the CBS affiliate (channel 6.1). Frequently, when going to or from commercials, there is a sudden pop/cracking sound. There often seems to be a quick change between full screen and "pillar" at the same time. Again, this only happens with KOIN. Anyone else have this problem, or perhaps has an explanation? Thanks.

123HDTV reported similiar issues in the "Portland, OR - Verizon" thread.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...&postcount=961

123HDTV seemed to believe it was related to switching from 2.0 audio to 5.1 audio. I would contact the KOIN engineering department since it seems to be limited to KOIN and common to both Comcast and Verizon.

Zyland, thank you for your response. I took your advice and called KOIN and left a message and call back number with engineering after getting a recording. No one called back so they are apparently uninterested in their viewers.

Yeah I noticed that today (11/14/2009) in Wilsonville, OR they had scrambled about 17 channels. I updated my spreadsheet and I marked the scrambled channels in a pink fill. Here's a link to my spreadsheet if anyone wants to look at the listings http://www.azzon.com/download/tv/qam...io-philips.xls

Here's a pdf link to the file for those who don't have Microsoft Excel (or something compatible) to open the .xls file However, you won't be able to sort the listing without excel.
http://www.azzon.com/download/tv/qam...io-philips.pdf[/quote]

I'm not familar with what an XLS file extension is.

Can someone explain this to me? I didn't want to download the file, not knowing and all.

The files is fine, it's just a word type document file extension. Most word type programs should read it, I use Open Office here myself, it's free

To all those Rip Van Winkels out there .... an .xls file is a Microsoft "Excel" Spreadsheet file (and has been for about the last 20 years):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microso...t#File_formats

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_Van_Winkle

Here's a pdf link to the file for those who don't have Microsoft Excel (or something compatible) to open the .xls file However, you won't be able to sort the listing without excel.
http://www.azzon.com/download/tv/qam...io-philips.pdf[/quote]

For those without Microsoft Office/Excel installed, here's a link to Microsoft's Excel Viewer, it works to view and print all versions of Excel from 97 to 2007.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

well as of 1:21 am Tuesday NOV. 17TH the standard cable qam ride is now over

Confirmed here in Salem. Anything clear QAM channels above 49-1 is now scrambled.

I now have switch to their lousy little black box that includes a lousy picture via RF and now my HD Homerun is useless!

All right then .... let's move on to other important things like:

The new 2009 Star Trek Movie (being released today on DVD) will be available via HD On-Demand from Comcast in about one month on Dec 16th. This is nice for those of us without the newest 1080p capable HDTVs and BlueRay players.

BTW, my PQ has always been great with an old DCT-3412 DVR over the last three years ..... it's well worth the extra hundred bucks or so for Digital HDTV and HD DVR service ..... just about the cost of one less pack of cigs a day, plus I feel healthier too.

Comcast scrambled around sixty (formerly) clear QAM sub-channels between 64.1 and 69.13 (as tuned by a Magnavox recorder, or 64.7 and 69.1184 when tuned by a Dynex TV). Those sub-channels were present last night but gone this morning. This is the self-serving "Network Enhancement" that Comcast has been threatening for some time--that time has come. Comcast left the must-carry and shopping channels above and below those sub-channel ranges but overlooked WGN America on sub-channel 107.3, perhaps because it's also found on a limited basic sub-channel.

Well many of us stayed with Comcast becuase we weren't forced to rent a box and could use our own QAM tuners and like that to watch and record whatever was in the clear, some in HD, now they have taken that option completely away just about.
I don't have the extra money to throw away on their stupid HD boxes and things, and that's what they hoped would happen when they shut everything down. I hope they loose customers for getting too greedy myself. Very tempting to cancel their TV service now and look for a better alternative seeing how I can't use all the extra QAM tuners I bought and the "free" boxes they gave me suck. The 7000 wont even decode any HD channels to SD so I can at least watch them, same for any HD free on demand stuff.
I don't want to have to wire in a A/B switch either to get the local HD channels, that's just stupid and another thing to try to convince you to pay extra for a HD box.

There's only ever been just a few of you, it's never been many.

You didn't lose any HD channels, only SD, the HD you got then is the same HD you can get now.

Neither can your QAM tuners, nothing has changed there. Those boxes have never been meant for anything other than to replace the analog tuners in older TV's so people wouldn't lose their enhanced basic SD channels on them. Other services all require a box of some type, even if it's a computer to get video from the internet.

No, again, you still get the same HD channels now as you did before, how would that cause anyone to rent an HD box if they hadn't already.

While you may be upset you can no longer subscribe to basic cable and get all the enhanced channels too, most of your arguments are spurious.

Why spend money on an HDTV if all you're going to watch is SD programming?
The people that have cable and a HDTV to watch HD, have long ago gotten a HD box for the simple fact that instead of a handful of local channels, it gives them access to nearly 100 other HD channels, or they're satisfied with the local HD they have been and still can receive.

So what are the alternatives to receiving QAM direct (other than over the air) can this be done via SAT service or are there any alternatives if you just want to hook straight into your QAM TV or DVR without any cable or SAT boxes?

Also I'm just curious here but I wonder if those big SAT dishes (that came out in the 80's) still work to receive directly from space or if those are all scrambled now? My friend's dad had one 20 years ago and had to rotate the dish to receive channels from all over the world but it was cool b/c he could receive 1000 channels from all over the world. Anyone know about those old dishes?

Hi Earletp - I agree with you that people subscribing to basic cable service should not be upset about no longer receiving expanded cable channels for free as that makes sense to me since they aren't paying for that service.

However, there's more people out there than you think (not sure just how many) who subscribe to EXPANDED cable service (not basic) and want to keep the ability to connect their comcast cable directly to their 1080p HDTV's and DVR's without any cable boxes mostly for simplicity and convenience reasons. Most of those subscribers don't care about on demand or the other 100 "HD" channels that you get with a comcast box but rather they just like to be able to see channels like SCIFI, ESPN, NICK, TOON, etc without having to use a cable box.

So plain and simple it would be nice if Comcast offered their expanded customers the ability to not use a box but Comcast has chosen not to. It's their service so they can really do what they want but as you can see from this thread customers who become unhappy tend to switch to other alternatives - which includes not only swithcing to SAT but could include saving $40/month and just downgrading from expanded cable to basic cable for $9/month, or paying nothing and just switching to OTA if their OTA antenna can pull in enough HD channels. Maybe it's only a handful that will switch but in these tough economic times I would NOT want a handful of customers leaving because 1 customer tells 25 of their friends and so on and so on. I think you get the picture! Pun intended ;o)

There aren't any, to the best of my knowledge QAM is only used by cable companies (ATSC is used for over the air). The clear QAM channels have reverted to where they were before the digital transition began, so your QAM tuner now will only be good for limited basic and local HD channels on Comcast here in Portland, just as they were last year at this time.


You could try searching for C-band and K/U band satellite, I believe it's called, but I can't give much more help with it than that.

Well thats the whole point, I could get all the basic channels with my own tuner and the local HD stuff which is fine to me. Now they want me to use their box, which truly sucks, to get all the rest of my SD stuff, I shouldn't even be forced to use a free box that does way less then my LG 4200a tuner does now.
Now that I've got the box activated it wont receive any on demand becuase for now I don't have the stupid a/b switch or a bidirectional splitter that works so it can talk back to Comcast.
I do have both tuners working through a decent bidirectional amp amd 2 way splitter so I can fire up the LG to get the local HD channels again without the A/B crap.
I think there are quite a few more people using basic cable with QAM tuners then you think, it was the first choice available for years so many folks have it and just stuck with it. I never wanted the movie channels and all that and was perfectly happy with the extended basic package that I could do with all my TV's and recorders. When we went to get the boxes they upgraded us to digital starter package or whatever it's called for no extra charge so that's where I'm at.


And Bmoody I don't think their are any alternatives as QAM is a cable only standard so if you go with anything else that tuner is useless. The ATSC tuner that all units should have is good for whatever OTA stuff you want but other then that you still have to use somebody's box and probably pay a bit extra to get HD on it. Direct TV has a special where you get 120 channels, supposedly HD, but when you read the fine print they want 10 bucks more a month for the HD box rental and channels.

I agree that it would be nice if Comcast kept the enhanced clear QAM channels, but I see why they aren't. It makes it much easier to stop cable theft this way.

I can also see where people would want the simplicity but I don't really understand the mentality of watching SD on an expensive HD set. Then again, I was a fairly early adopter of HD, before Comcast even had HD, and we were lucky to have more than a couple of shows per week in HD OTA.

I may be mistaken, but I truly believe that regardless of the comments posted, it has more to do with some people (whom could easily be 15 year old kids) wanting something for nothing like an easy way to watch TV on their computers, than it really has to do with "simplicity".
Though I am certain there are some of those, especially the less knowledgable ones that were upsold by less than candid salespeople when they bought their new TV, that were told they didn't need a box with this new TV.

If Comcast had said we now have clear QAM channels and then took them away I'd be bitching too, but the reality is they never endorsed it as a method of reception and if reading these posts is any indication, they often if not always denied it was even possible.

Bottom line is we lost a service that was never offered and one that always was to be temporary, even though I did take advantage of too.
How much dissatisfaction is really justified given that reality?

Earl

Hi Earl, thanks for the reply. I think for me (as well as some others) it was probably us looking at the FCC rules that came out early on about providing clear QAM and hoping that cable companies would be able to secure their expanded channels without resorting to boxes but that now isn't the case. In my situation I have 4 QAM HDTV's and 3 Philip's QAM DVR's spread throughout my house.

I'm just on basic cable but if I subscribed to expanded cable (which I have in the past) then I'd need 4 cable boxes and recording to the the Philips (and things like it) DVRS with a box is cumbersome at best and not being able to watch the TV show while recording is nuts without having to get a comcast / Tivo DVR where you have to pay more $ for something you already have. This is the simplicity factor I'm talking about. For now my basic cable hooked directly to my HDTV's and DVR's without any boxes are fine but if Comcast ever changes basic servicve to you need a cable box then I'd probably just go to an OTA antenna. And in the future if I wanted to upgrade to expanded cable I probably wouldn't b/c of the boxes being a PIA (IMO) ;o)

So, with their decision to use the box as their security method Comcast lost me as a potential expanded service customer) Sure I'm only one of probably a few hunderd people that will think this way and comcast will go on subscribing plenty of people who pay $150/month for all those boxes and channels but as prices increase and services get more "bloaty" more and more people might start saying WTH am I paying $150+ / month for and decide to just shut it all off and go back to OTA antennas. Time will tell ;o)

Dude, you're watching way too much TV ..... Time to start reading more books before you catch TV-Brain-Rot.

LOL - Well I do have 3 kids and a wife all who seem to watch something different at the same time! So that leaves me either watching sponge bob with my boys, sprout with my little girl or dancing with the stars with my wife. So I end up DVR'ing what I want to watch ;o)

I believe that the digital SD channels on Verizon FiOS use QAM. As an aside, it's all ATSC for digital cable, digital over the air and digital fiber-optic. Cable uses QAM as a modulation scheme. Over the air and fiber-optic use different modulation schemes.

Has anybody tried to get a HDTV with a QAM tuner and a CableCard to decrypt the recently encrypted expanded basic channels? Does Comcast offer CableCards for this purpose to people that subscribe to expanded basic?

I believe Comcast will give you your first cable card at no cost for whatever level of service for which you are paying (Expanded Basic and above and also HD service if you pay for HD service). Additional cards are like several dollars each (I believe). Note that there is no Video On Demand capabilities for cable cards and the only non-Comcast DVR you can use is a Tivo unit (if you plan to use a DVR).