Portland, OR - Comcast - Page 150

Who is your service provider and what region are they located?

I have comcast as my service provider also, but i still can't access it. When i go to activate it, it goes to the page where it says we're currently verifying your dvr, this may take a moment, andhas the wheel spinning, but it just gets stuck there.

I have comcast, and I am in Portland, OR

Let's start over again (slowly) ..... You got the new DCX3400 DVR from the Comcast Center on Nimbus Ave in Beaverton and it won't activate? It's probably defective.

One more restriction, at least it used to be. Are you using Internet Explorer as your web browser? I believe that's required too, at least so they say. It doesn't seem to work when I use Safari.

That is correct. I picked it up from the Comcast Center on Nimbus Ave, put it in, the DVR works fine, i just can't activate the MyDVR feature online (using internet explorer). I should bring it back and try to replace it?

Very interesting .... Okay, I get it.

I have not tried the online MyDVR feature yet for my new 500GB DCX-3400-M that's part of my new AnyRoom service.

If you can wait until Monday or Tuesday, I'll try activating the MyDVR feature here in Beaverton using IE8 and WinXP Pro SP3 and then report back what happens.

Apologies if this is the wrong thread, but Eugene doesn't seem to have a Comcast thread and things seem to get implemented in Portland around the same time as Eugene.

Did Portland get this notice?
"Effective Tuesday, August 17, 2010, the following Digital
Premier channels will be removed from our lineup:
Ch. 864 MoreMax West HD
Ch. 866 ActionMax West HD
Ch. 882 Showtime Extreme West HD
Ch. 880 Showtime Showcase West HD"

Just curious if anyone knows what's up with Comcast removing so many movie channels lately. A couple months ago they dropped TMC HD, TMCX HD, and ThrillerMax HD. All seven of these channels were added less than a year ago (Sept 1st, 2009). Is this just a pricing dispute or are the nonprimary HBOs and Starzs next? It's getting annoying to get notice of more dropped channels every couple months as my bill continues to creep higher.

Hello forum participants--

Hoping someone can give me a nutshell/primer on the questions that follow. Trying to get relevant info from the Comcast website I find to be an impossible task. I've also been reading this thread and can't find specific answers. OK, here goes.

I've been using my current HD DVR for about 2 years, it's the DCH 3416. My biggest gripe has always been how small the drive is, limiting HD storage to 20 hours. (Don't want a TIVO or Moxi because wife loves on demand.) My basic questions are: 1) is part of this whole Xfinity business new DVRs that have bigger drives, and multiroom capability? 2) If so, in the second (and third) rooms, will I be able to eliminate the DTA boxes Comcast sent me last year? 3) Will the additional rooms be HD? 4) If yes to some or all of these questions, do I just go to the Beaverton office on Nimbus, and get some new equipment, or is there some package avbl instead that will help out on cost?

Also, I'm assuming that somebody is going to post "dude, get FIOS." The problem there is that I live on a cul-de-sac that the City of Tigard doesn't maintain, and when Verizon laid the fiber optic down the intersecting street, they gave all the residents on the cul-de-sac about 2 days to sign an agreement letting them tear it up to put in fiber. They weren't good about answering questions, and before everyone agreed, they were gone. My question is, does anyone know if there is a way to get Frontier to come out and extend the FIOS about 50 yards to my house, or is this opportunity lost forever? I tried to find a way to call some local Frontier office last week to ask this question (the 800 number was a disaster), and had no luck. Anyone have info on this angle?

Looking forward to hearing from all of you. Thanks.

I'll take a shot at answering these two questions.

I'll answer 3 first. For the 2nd and 3rd room TVs to be HD, you need and HDTV and an HD source. The DTAs are not an HD source. So you need to bypass them to get HD. If your HDTV has a built-in QAM tuner then you can plug the cable directly into the TV and you can get all of the local broadcast channels in HD from Comcast. If you want other channels in HD, you will need to rent a HD cable box for each TV that you want HD on.

Now 2, If your goal is to eliminate the DTA boxes, your have a couple of options. First, bypass the DTA box and plug the cable directly into the built-in tuner of the TV. If it has a QAM tuner, you will get all of the unencrypted TV channels in digital (including the local broadcast HD channels). Basically, this means you will get limited basic without the DTA boxes. If it doesn't have a QAM tuner, then you will get just a subset of the limited basic channels in analog. No HD, no digital, just analog. I think that's about 26 channels currently. Or you could rent a cable box for each TV.

I've just gotten the Anyroom DVR installed, so I can address some of your questions.

First, I believe all the Anyroom DVRs in the PDX area are 500G drives. So, you'll have a lot more storage. To access the Anyroom DVR from other rooms, you'll need a special unit, which you'll pay for also (just like you'd pay for a digital box). That unit supports HD, and also can access your Anyroom DVR for playback.

You cannot (currently) just go to a Comcast office and get the units. They have to have someone come out and install. This is primarily because they also need to install a filter on your cable to prevent you from accessing a neighbor's DVR, and a neighbor from accessing yours. To do this, your DVR and your child units need to be on the same subnetwork (or whatever the terminology is) in your house. That is, everything that needs to talk to each other needs to be inside that filter. Otherwise, your units won't be able to talk to each other.

Yes, that notice was on my June 28th billing statement plus the July 28th statement says HDNet is being added to Channel 798 for the Preferred Packages. Portland and Eugene (plus Vancouver, WA) are all part of Comcast's first in the nation rollout area .... we get all the new stuff first because they determined that this chunk of the USA has the most modern and reliable infrastructure which means less chance of other troubles while they essentially beta-test new service here first (about 4 months ahead of other areas in the country). BTW, TMC channels are coming back as part of their most top of the line premium package according to rumors.

Goes to 11 ..... I just moved to AnyRoom after using a 120GB DCT-3412 for 4 years in a Beaverton home with currently one HDTV connected to the DVR, plus an SD TV connected to an old SD DCT-700 tuner-only (which was costing me an extra $7.99)/mo, plus two other SD TVs connected to the free DTAs. I'm also paying an extra $1.99/mo for a third DTA for the TV in the garage.

My DCT's hard drive was starting to fail so I dropped into the Comcast Nimbus office (without the DCT in hand) to inquire if any 250GB DCX-3400 units were in stock. After looking at my account of many years (without complaints), the clerk said she could give me an AnyRoom package that included a 500GB DCX-3400-M DVR and an full HD DCX-3200-M Terminal unit (to replace the old $7.99/mo SD tuner) and add STARZ to my current Preferred Triple-Play w/HBO package for only $4.00/mo more fixed price for 1 full year. Comcast ordered all their AnyRoom DCX-3400-M units with the 500GB hard drives ..... I believe the largest non-M DCX DVR unit Comcast has ever offered has 320GB, but most are the 250GB units.

Anyway, the SD TV that is/was on the old SD tuner is now ready for upgrade to an HDTV with no more work or cost, plus up to 2 more of the other TVs with DTAs could be upgraded to full HD for $8/mo each (the cost of an AnyRoom DCX-3200-M terminal unit). My SD TV works just fine with the HD DCX terminal unit and can view all the host unit's recordings but can not erase any recordings .... you can only do that from the main DCX host unit with the hard drive.

The only down side would be that it required a one time $15.00 service call fee to install the filter. It took them 4 separate visits to get things working right, but man-oh-man, they fixed up a lot of other wiring issues like upgrading connectors, splitters, plus replacing my older DOCSIS 2.0 rental phone/internet modem with a brand new DOCSIS 3.0 unit and properly relocated it from the garage to my internet room/office at the other end of the house, like it should have been done years ago when Cox used to own the area.

The best $15 I've ever spent

zyland, crossbeaux & George-O:

Thanks for your thoughtful responses. crossbeaux, when you mention that the other rooms need a "special unit" to access the other room DVR, I assume that will replace the DTA box. No need to confirm unless I'm wrong, if so, please let me know. I'm assuming the special unit is the AnyRoom DCX-3200-M terminal unit that George-O mentioned, and it also seems he is saying it replaces the SD DTA box.

George-O, any idea what the monthly cost increase will be after your one-year contract is up? I'm not sure how much I'm really going to use the Anyroom DVR feature, so suspect my cost increase is mainly going to be for the larger drive. (Why oh why won't Comcast enable the feature on the boxes that would let us plug an external drive in? I've been seeing 1-terabyte for less than $100.)

Last, but not least, what zyland said is really interesting. Currently on my bedroom HD set (which has two coax inputs, and a QAM tuner) I have a rabbit ears connected, and am using that to get OTA HD from KOIN, KGW, etc. When I want ESPN or whatever, I switch to the input the DTA is connected to and get SD. But from what you're telling me, it sounds like I could accomplish the same thing--while getting rid of the rabbit ears and sometimes flaky reception on KOIN--by splitting the cable, with one feed going straight to the antenna input on the TV (for HD of local networks) and the other going to the DTA then the TV for SD of ESPN, etc. If this is correct, it seems to me that the same thing could be accomplished (for a TV that lacks two coax inputs) by sending one coax split to the TV's coax input, and one to the DTA, with coax from the DTA going to an old VCR and then the VCR's composite or S-video output to the TV.

Hmmmmm, guess I can get rid of the rabbit ears, but have to decide how much extra I'm willing to pay for 500gb storage on the DVR.

There is no 1 year contract .... Comcast simply guarrantees my rates for a year but I can change or downgrade at any time. I'm only saving about $4/mo which is the extra cost of an M version DVR vs a non-M version. The STARZ is worth $10-$15 mo but I never watch it anyway.

Best way to figure your rate is to add $4/mo to upgrade to an M DVR ($19.95/mo vs $15.95/mo and then add $8/mo for each terminal unit you install (to replace a DTA). But they may give you a bunch of addtional services or channels, etc ...... just go in person to the Nimbus office and tell them you are considering switching to another service like satellite to get shared DVR capability and they'll probably bend over backwards to keep you as a customer via an AnyRoom discounted upgrade.

Personally, I'd keep the rabbit ears just in case cable goes out, although yes you could scrap them as you described.

Yep, that would work.

split cable into two
first output goes into QAM tuner input for local channels in HD
second output goes into DTA
output of DTA goes into VCR input
output of VCR composite goes into TV composite for expanded basic in SD.

Here's a one input to the TV solution that has one major drawback.

split cable into two
first output goes into UHF input of UHF/VHF combiner
second output goes into DTA
output of DTA goes into VHF input of UHF/VHF combiner
output of UHF/VHF combiner goes into QAM tuner input of TV

digital channels 2.1, 6.1, 8.1, etc for the broadcast HD channels
analog channel 3 or 4 (depending on DTA setting) for expanded basic in SD.

The major drawback is that the UHF input to the UHF/VHF combiner will filter out the cable VHF channels (2-13) as well as 95-99 and 14-22. OPB HD is sitting on 14.13, so it get's filtered out. All of the other local HD channels should be fine.

So, if you watch a lot of OPB, then this solution is not for you, use the VCR solution. If you never watch it, then it saves you the trouble of including a VCR in the mix.

For anyone that has a 3D setup, all of these showed up for On Demand after midnight in Portland, OR:

SOS Planet 3d
Haunted Castle 3d
African Adventure 3d
Siegfried and Roy: The Magic Box 3d
PGA Championship 3D (8 hours worth!)

That is a step in the right direction for Comcast. There still isn't any content showing up for channel 897 3D Event Channel or 898 ESPN 3D though.

Here's a one input to the TV solution that has one major drawback.

split cable into two
first output goes into UHF input of UHF/VHF combiner
second output goes into DTA
output of DTA goes into VHF input of UHF/VHF combiner
output of UHF/VHF combiner goes into QAM tuner input of TV

digital channels 2.1, 6.1, 8.1, etc for the broadcast HD channels
analog channel 3 or 4 (depending on DTA setting) for expanded basic in SD.

The major drawback is that the UHF input to the UHF/VHF combiner will filter out the cable VHF channels (2-13) as well as 95-99 and 14-22. OPB HD is sitting on 14.13, so it get's filtered out. All of the other local HD channels should be fine.

zyland, I'm liking this idea. But I'm not understanding why 14.13 would be filtered out, but 2.1, 6.1, etc. would not be.

Has anyone in Portland/Eugene started getting occassional random audio drop-outs (just a fraction of a second) on the SD channels? I also notice a simultaneous glitch in the video when this happens.

Seems like an opportune time to update this list

Here are the changes
1. removed KXPD (Comcast channel 317)
2. moved TV Mart (Comcast channel 15/315) from 110-1063 to 100-1062
3. added KGW 24-7 (Comcast channel 308)
4. moved Estrella TV (Comcast channel 307) from 91-4 to 91-5

Still looking for PEG channels from other areas if you have them.

 

pdx cable.pdf 113.626953125k . file

2.1, 2.2, 6.1, 8.1, etc are virtual channels.
14.13 is the actual physical channel that KOPB HD transmitted on Comcast cable.

If you consult the "pdx cable.pdf" that I just sent out on this forum, you will see all of the virtual channels listed on the far left under the heading "PSIP".

The physical channels are under the heading "QAM".

KOPB HD's physical channel is 14.13 and it's virtual channel is 10.1
KATU HD's physical channel is 91.2 and it's virtual channel is 2.1

So, the UHF input of the VHF/UHF combiner is going to filter out all channel in the PHYSICAL range; 2 through 13 AND 14 through 22 and 95 through 99. Unfortunately KOPB HD is in the 14-22 range. So it gets filtered out. KATU HD (physical channel 91.2) is not in this range, so it gets through. The same is true of the rest of the local HD channels.

SD channels like OPBPlus, TV Guide Network, QVC, etc. will also get filtered out but you can pick those up on your DTA so you probably don't care.

In any event, I have a better solution. A Channel Master JoinTenna for channel 3 (or 4) would cost about $20 and would not have the drawback
of filtering out KOPB HD. It works like the VHF/UHF combiner except it joins all channels except 3 (or 4) on one input and channnel 3 (or 4) on the other input. So, like the previous scheme but replace the VHF/UHF combiner with a channel 3 (or 4) JoinTenna.

Let me know how it goes.

There was also a message on my box yesterday 8/23

Just curious: Is anyone interested in this Channel? I have checked the programing and it is not that interesting. I had this channel available when I had Directv and never watched it. I hope it gets better, I think the HDNET movie channel would have been better to add.

I persons opinion.

I just want BBC America HD! Give me BBC America HD, dammit!!

Looking at its programming, I'll watch it more than some stations we have now, and less than others.

As a child of the 'Race to Space" I wish Comcast would have added this channel before the end of the Space Shuttle, I'd really like to see some HD NASA launches.

+1

Does anyone know if Comcast SportsNet HD (channel 737) can be had in a basic HD package? If not for Blazer games, I'd probably switch to DirecTV, but I'd consider getting both if Comcast SportsNet HD was available in a cheap package.

Does anyone know what happened to kgw Estrella tv (307 or 8.3)? It's been missing for the past few days.

Just my tv acting squirrelly. A rescan fixed it.

HDNET is now on 798 as per the announcements earlier.

Did anyone else think that Comcast would never ever pick up HDNet? Cuban and Comcast have been like enemies for years.