Portland, OR - Comcast - Page 155

Just filled out the Comcast email form. Hopefully others do the same.

Crossbeaux, did you hear back from KOIN?

I can't speak for Crossbeaux, but I received separate prompt personal responses from two high level KOIN personnel who are working with Comcast to improve Comcast's delivered KOIN-HD PQ over the cable system (I had copied KOIN's engineering dept. on my complaint letter to Comcast). KOIN realizes that Comcast is messing with their signal and is not happy about it, so I feel there is hope Comcast may eventually do something positive. KOIN also asked that I keep in touch "to make sure the picture quality from Comcast is fixed and working like a good HD picture should be."

Sounds like KOIN is on this issue like a dog chasing a stick .... very encouraging.

No word back from Comcast yet, other than a canned response to check your wiring and to try an online chit-chat session (basically blowing me off). It was like from some overseas kid who did not bother to read my complaint in which I clearly stated that I paid Comcast last year to put in new wiring .... cheezz .... looks like it's outsourcing Customer Service to Asia now at Comcast ... What's next?

My recommendation is for everyone to keep sending complaints to Comcast via the contact info posted a few posts earlier.

Comcast is like a giant aircraft carrier ..... it takes a lot of tug boats to change its path, so keep complaining to Comcast (and also report results or progress to KOIN).

Just another data point:

KOIN-HD quality on Frontier FiOS is excellent. And yes, I realize that Frontier is NOT encouraging new subscribers to sign up. I'm one of those legacy subscribers who will stay with FiOS as long as it is offered by Frontier.

Mike

Thanks for the update on your response from KOIN. After the reply I got I was afraid that they were somehow unaware of the issue so it's nice to hear them acknowledge it.

I hope Comcast does the right thing and gives KOIN half a QAM channel so they can deliver the full ATSC bit rate we OTA viewers are unexpectedly enjoying right now. The 10 Mbps recompression is insulting, excessive and unnecessary.

I hope they do too, but since Comcast completed deal to take a majority ownership of NBC-Universal we can only hope there is no family nepotism now in play against CBS

I'm just waiting for Comcast to drop the next PQ shoes against ABC and FOX.

At that point, I believe the FCC and other Fed+Local Agencies will be forced to step in to reconsider approval of that recent NBC-Universal deal and bust it up using anti-trust statutes.

I haven't heard back from KOIN yet, but I'm encouraged by George-O's info. I would think they would be very invested in correcting the Comcast compression.

As for Comcast, they keep responding to my emails with standard -- your wiring might be bad, go to our online chat responses. I point out that they clearly didn't read my emails and that I'm considering filing a complaint with the regulatory commission.

PM sent of my missle shot back at Comcast's canned response received around midnight from what appears to be an overseas call center (based on a header trace) ..... feel free to plagiarize parts of mine for your own use if you wish.

UPDATE as of 6:45 pm PT

KOIN-HD Ch 6 thru Comcast this evening as of 6:45 pm has improved since last night.

I watched the Local Ch 6 KOIN-HD news and the first part of the CBS-HD Evening news and HD PQ approaches or matches that found on ABC-HD, NBC-HD and FOX-HD through Comcast .... all of a sudden.

The key side by side comparison I used was Comcast xFinity's own HD commercial touting their 2-hour window appointments broadcast at 6:23 pm this evening (and also recorded last evening).

Comparing tonights Comcast Ad with last night's Comcast Ad make the difference look like night and day .... Hopefully Comcast and KOIN engineering staff have made progress in the right direction.

Tonight's recordings of the three new one-hour CBS prime time shows will help confirm if things are good again .... just hope they can stay that way.

UPDATE as of 8:15 pm PT

Although KOIN-HD delivered via Comcast was miraculously nearly equal to Comcast delivered PQ of ABC-HD, NBC-HD and FOX-HD up until 8:00 pm this evening, NCIS starting at 8:00 pm shows some back-tracking in Comcast delivered PQ, but not as bad as last night's PQ.

But curiously, the commercial breaks still look great after 8:00 pm (unlike last night), so it may just be the way KOIN received NCIS from CBS earlier today.

Unfortunately, I'm not able to connect my OTA antenna tonight to check against KOIN's direct OTA signal this evening (due to lower back trouble).

We'll have to keep a sharp eye on Comcast delivered KOIN-HD over the next week to see how things go.

UPDATE as of 9:45 pm PT

The Comcast delivered KOIN-HD PQ has returned to about as good as it was before 8:00 pm .... it improved gradually again after 8:15 pm during NCIS and continues to be "almost" as good as ABC-HD, NBC-HD and FOX-HD 90 minutes later (currently 45 minutes into NCIS: Los Angeles here at 9:45 pm).

I sure hope things stay this way, as I can live with tonight's KOIN-HD PQ via Comcast with my old age eyes (but certainly not last night's PQ).

However, the Comcast delivered KOIN-HD commercials and CBS show preview trailers (during station breaks) do look better than the actual KOIN-HD CBS Network show content. Tonight the Comcast delivered KOIN-HD local news and the CBS Evening Network News looked as good as the other Comcast delivered ABC-HD, NBC-HD and FOX-HD network actual shows themselves. So it might be the way CBS delivers network show content to KOIN that causes the commercials and news to look better.

George-0: I added my voice to yours at the Comcast feedback email page, FWIW. I also miss "the old days" when HD was breathtaking.

I will be interested to see how the Comcast delivered KOIN-HD PQ will be for Letterman tonight at 11:35 pm ..... Will it look great like the KOIN-HD commercials this evening (like the good 'ol days)?

Or only just "good, yet tolerable" like the CBS network shows earlier this evening (but still much better than last night)?

It looks like my cynical prediction is coming true.

The series premiere of "Unforgettable" tonight had the usual excellent bit rate of 18.09 Mbps OTA. Comcast has kindly inched their bit rate from 10 Mbps to 13 Mbps. It seems like they'll be doing slight increases until enough people stop complaining.

UPDATE as of 1:15 am PT

Letterman on Comcast-delivered KOIN-HD also looked better tonight, plus I found some old Hawaii Five-O HD recordings from last year (still on my DVR) when Comcast-delivered KOIN-HD PQ used to look good and compared them to tonight's Comcast-delivered KOIN-HD programming and the PQ was almost comparable.

FWIW, Comcast actually responded to my 3rd formal complaint this evening with something more than the standard canned "check your wiring and chat with us online."

They basically stated that everything checks-out normal today (all seems to be working good) and made a lame implication that any PQ issues are typically the responsibility of the local channels, i.e. a typical lawyer strategy used when things get hot (in any industry):

1. Deny any knowledge of a problem;

2. Blame the customer or a 3rd party if there is or was a problem;

3. Discretely and quietly fix the problem;

4. Deny anything was done to make things right .... "everything checks-out good currently";

5. Finally offer thanks for being a loyal customer.

I never really expected or asked Comcast to admit any PQ issues .... just to please get together with KOIN staff to work things out (which according to KOIN, something that was already in the works prior to my own complaints).

Looks like all our Forum members' complaints to Comcast finally made their kitchen too hot, so great Kudos to everyone who complained.

Plus, if Forum members continue to update this forum with an occasional report-card for Comcast's delivered PQ (particularly for KOIN-HD), I believe we may see better PQ delivered from Comcast over the long haul.

Remember, in any capitalist society, it is only normal for most businesses to try and stretch things to the max (preserving bandwidth in this case), until a point is reached where customers start squealling (loudly).

So everyone keep those loud squeals and reports (both positive and negative) coming in. Also, even if you did not find the time to send in a complaint to Comcast this time, it would not hurt to send them some positive feedback regarding how much better a certain HD station looks after it suddenly improved (just about as good as a complaint beforehand, thus letting them know you care about PQ and had noticed just how bad things had gotten, etc). I honestly believe that future PQ (to a degree) can actually rest in Comcast customers' hands if they take the time to provide regular feedback.

George-O, Thanks for the update. It's good to know things may have gotten better. I didn't watch KOIN last night. For me, the test will come during football Saturday or Sunday.

For a good laugh, however, here's part of the text I received from Comcast after my latest complaint about quality:

"I did not receive any update that Comcast is compressing the signal for the KOIN-HD station. Comcast will never do such a thing. I suggest you let our techs check the lines in your area."

Football this weekend will be the true test. It seems that contacting Comcast isn't going to get you anywhere. I think that staying in touch with KOIN's engineers is the only way to get results. They actually have a bat phone with Comcast and they can apply direct pressure to get this fixed. Comcast will just continue to deny any issue and the odds of getting this beyond either a call center in India or a low level employee armed with canned responses is slim to none.

Yeah, stop preventing their techs from checking the lines in your area, crossbeaux! How can you expect them to do their jobs?

Sounds like they don't know how diggy-tell tellyvison works.

I am shocked, shocked I tell you ...... to learn that there are businesses right here in town that may be lying to customers ... simply shocked! Such an outrage!

KOIN emailed me this morning in reply to my email .... Apparently KOIN used that Bat Phone to call Comcast and reported that Comcast found a problem on their end and fixed it yesterday.

Actually contacting both parties would be best ...... First fill out a complaint form at the Comcast web link provided a few posts back and that will get you a canned response pretty quick (in about an hour or so with an assigned case number). Then you reply back via email with polite rants that they are full of it and also cc the key KOIN personnel at that same time.

Formal complaints to Comcast are needed, because otherwise, any regulatory authorities have nothing to act upon if needed in the future. I believe Comcast is required by law to log all complaints.

Additionally, for time critical issues, a direct email or call to KOIN directly can also be added to the procedure simultaneously.

If that problem was finding three Mbps more bandwidth, you cable folks are going to be disappointed come football time.

I got a similar email today. The KOIN engineer just said that Comcast found the problem and reset the compression on their end. No mention was made of what they set the compression to. Hopefully it will be good enough.

My Panny HDTV always remaps the local HD channels to 2-1, 6-1, 8-1 etc. following a rescan.

Does anyone have the current actual KOIN-HD location. I found a posting here from May that said it was at 80-63, but I think Comcast moved it since then.

Thanks.

Bitrate on KOIN-HD channel 706 today on Comcast is hovering around 16-17Mb/sec. Before the "fix", it was running between 8-10Mb/sec.

Kudos to George-O for following through with KOIN to get Comcast to budge. I'll bet if KOIN hadn't contacted them, it would have NEVER been fixed. It would be everybody's wiring... Nice job George-O!

Makes you wonder what made it "wrong" in the first place? Is it going to happen again?

Yep, that's what I saw. It averaged 16.2 Mbps during the SEC game. This is a little short of the 18.1 Mbps I saw OTA but at least it was watchable now and the difference was only visible if I watched very closely for mosquito noise.

Stations increasing their HD bit rate? Comcast increasing their bit rate? Has the world gone mad?

Obviously something was wrong with our wiring! Haven't you been paying attention?

Maybe Comcast Management simply applied the 'ol "Henry the Sixth" approach:

http://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-qu...ll-all-lawyers

Hopefully no more clever lawyer-like actions like:

1. Deny any knowledge of a problem;

2. Blame the customer or a 3rd party if there is or was a problem;

3. Discretely and quietly fix the problem;

4. Deny anything was done to make things right .... "everything checks-out good currently";

5. Finally offer thanks for being a loyal customer.

The CBS college game looked OK to me. So kudos for increasing the bandwidth. I will check tomorrow. I don't really want to watch football, but I guess I'll have to.