Boston, MA - RCN - Page 6

From my vantage point here in Framingham I lost the following channels a few days ago from the list I attached above...

77-4 Fine Living
82-15 Nat Geo HD
103-1 AZN
115-3 IFC
119-1 G4

I never had the NFL network so that one's not a loss for me. I rescanned and none of the channels listed above reappeared anywhere else so I assume they're gone for the count. Ah, the ever changing world of clear QAM viewing...

I picked up an Avermedia a180 card to try and get NESN over QAM, no dice. I've got RCN in Woburn, MA. Can't even find it in SD. I've got ESPN2 and a number of other HD channels but nothing I'm looking for.

Is there anything I can try to maybe find some channels the card isn't detecting?

I recently switched from Comcast to RCN in the Boston area.
I've been noticing more macroblocking artifacts on RCN than I'd seen
on Comcast, especially on SD channels. Has anyone else observed this?

It appears than RCN broadcasts many of their SD channels
at a higher bitrate than Comcast. The SciFi channel seems
to be encoded at about a 70% higher bitrate on RCN.
For example, I'll see Comcast at around 2.7 Mbps in SD
while RCN will be around 3 to 4.5 Mbps in SD.
This does seem to vary by channel on both, possibly more on RCN.
Within this, the audio bitrate is 192kbps on Comcast vs 256kbps on RCN
on the one show I looked at (Stargate Atlantis on SciFi).

See the attached images for a comparison of the opening credits from Stargate Atlantis on the SciFi channel between Comcast and RCN.

As you can see, RCN's image has much more detail in high-frequency areas
(such as text and line). However, the RCN image also has much worse
macroblocking in low-frequency areas such as flat surfaces and fog.
I wonder if there is a difference in their encoder settings? It's quite
annoying to me on the RCN side as the macroblocking artifacts
can be fairly visible during scenes in dark rooms with flat wall surfaces
and distract away from the center of the picture. (Or at least I notice
this on my Panasonic plasma... The danger of having good contrast!)
I wonder if there is anything RCN can do to improve this?


For HD, the bitrate seems to be more consistent between the two.
(For example both broadcast Lost at around 17 Mbps and Terminator
at around 10 Mbps.)

I'm also looking forward to Comcast and RCN offering the SciFi channel
in HD in Boston. Does anyone know when this may happen?

I just moved to Burlington a couple weeks ago and signed up with Comcast. I didn't realize I had another option in RCN. I chose against Verizon as I have a HTPC that would only be able to record locals with FiOS. Plus I have a couple of QAM tuners and it appears that there are a lot of channels on RCN in the clear, and that's awesome.

I just got a mailer for the three services for $60 for the year, and it looks like it will be about $100 after that (which is Comcast's intro rate). Am I reading this right?

Well after seeing the price difference, and having my phone not work for half of the two weeks with Comcast, and finding out that so many QAM channels are in the clear, I'm planning to switch to RCN.

But before I do, are there any that came over from Comcast or FiOS and have regrets? I'm going to setup an install with RCN and then cancel Comcast when that's completed. I doubt I will have luck, but I'm going to try and get my install fee refunded after having so many problems with our phone services.

Thanks,
Billy

Ive had RCN for a number of years, they are a great company. Your phone will be considerably better b/c RCN uses a POTS type system that routes calls over cable vs over the internet like comcast. The internet is faster (20/2 vs either 8/768 or 16/2 in blast areas). The area where comcast wins is tv. They have HD-VOD (rcn only does SD), and more HD channels than RCN currently. RCN will be more agressive in the amount of HD theyll have later in the year. So, if you can deal with the current channel line up for now, you should be satisfied.

Thanks for this document. The PDF is perfect to print out and put next to our TV with a QAM tuner. I live in Burlington and the numbers are the same for me.

On one of my tuners shows 132.5 as encrypted, but if you select it it is viewable. So that might be your issue as your software isn't even trying as it thinks it's encrypted. (this is with an HDHomeRun that shows it encrypted, but still viewable.)

Looks like we just got Discovery HD (ch. 193), Animal Planet HD (ch. 187), TLC HD (ch. 191), & Science HD (ch. 194)

On clear QAM I found Animal Planet on 133-2,Discovery on 134-2, and TLC on 134-3.

I was unable to find Science HD, but I had also never heard of it before today.

I did a re-scan last night on mine and was not able to pick up TLC or Discovery. What's interesting is I tried selecting that channel on my basic digital Motorola box from RCN to see if I could get sound, all I got was a screen that said the channels were temporarily off air. Try this at your own risk, my Motorola box was very confused for about 30 seconds when I tried to view the TLC and Discovery channels with it. All the other HD channels either gave me a subscribe screen or black screen with sound.

I did pick up the following:

A&E HD
LMN HD
bio.HD
Animal Planet HD
Travel Channel HD

Sorry folks, I posted to soon. This link indicates that TLC and Discovery should be fixed in Boston:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r201...ea-HD-channels

So I was reading through that forum. It looks like they shut off the clearQAM in Chicago when they went all digital. It's really awesome having all the basic SD and HD channels clearQAM and one of the primary reasons I switched to RCN. I'd hate to lose the clearQAM when they decided to switch Boston to all digital.

We shall see.

I was pleasantly surprised when I pressed up on the controller, past NFLHD, and noticed the new channels. Fantastic. For whatever reason, Science HD looks best.

RCN has a decent HD lineup. Hoping for ESPN News next.

Has anyone found CNN HD on QAM?

128-3

Thanks to toastyfries and others for the reminder to periodically rescan. I have updated the QAM channel listing I posted a few replies back (originally on 12/1/2007) with the new HD channels (FX, CNN, Animal Planet, History, TLC, Discovery, Travel, A&E).

Thats what I was thinking, unfortunately the only software that seems to support this card is the vendor's software.

I did a rescan tonight. This is my currnt HD lineup in Burlington on a Philips w/ built in HD Tuner.

77.2 - Food Network
77.3 - TBS
79.2 - ESPN2
79.3 - FSN
120.3 - TNT
125.1 - CH5 WCBB
125.2 - CH7 WHDH
126.2 - FOX
126.3 - PBS
127.2 - A&E
127.3 - History
128.3 - CNN
129.2 - "Discovered" but blank
131.2 - CH4 WBZ
131.41 - ESPN
132.1 - "Discovered" but blank
132.5 - NESE
133.2 - "Discovered" but blank

Does anyone with a similar lineup have any channels that I am missing here? I'd like to find Discovery HD.

Some additional channels received in Newton

113.2 WSBK38
113.4 WLVI56
78.2 HGTV
128.2 TRAVEL
133.2 ANIMAL PLANET
134.2 DISCOVERY
134.3 TLC

I live in Burlington and use QAM on my Toshiba DLP & an HD HomeRun. I get the listings as documented by junhorde in this post: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...3#post12372433

I used that list as a reference when mapping the channels for recording in MythTV and it has been quite accurate.

Sometimes my Toshiba doesn't label the subchannels with the same number, but that's easy enough to figure out. Discovery HD is on channel 134, and I've noticed on my signal meter on the TV that channel 133 and then 134 really start to drop off in strength. So if you can't tune 134 it may be a signal strength issue. I can't tune it if I add one more splitter before the TV.

PS, has anyone ever seen any actual sports on 79-3 (CSN or FSN, not sure which)

The Celtics home games are in HD on CSN HD - away games haven't been so far . . .

Thanks Junhorde! The channel definition files you attached in your post line up great for RCN in Watertown (Boston Digital RCN).

I don't have the software to view your spreadsheet in the format you provided, but I was able to cut and paste the the pdf file to Excel.

As you mentioned, channels are missing but may not be of much interest.

I organized the channel table in Excel so I can easily reference the standard RCN station # with the resolution subset station that works best for my TV (unfortunately 1080i doesn't look stable on my set).

Below is the information I compiled in the Excel zip file attached at the bottom of this post (easier to read in the Excel zip attachment than the PHP code below)

Hope this file helps someone. My guess is we'll have to do it all agian come Feb 2009 (or sooner).

BTW - I also use the site linked here to check the current TV program lineup - works great. You can set it up to work for any service provider local to your area http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tvlistings/ or http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tvlistings/ZCGrid.do

 

Boston Digital RCN.zip 6.0888671875k . file

vmaxer -

The spreadsheet I used to list the channel lineup is for the OpenOffice equivalent of Excel. OpenOffice is a free open-source package that includes a spreadsheet tool, presentation software and a word processor. It's pretty complete if you ever need one cheap and is roughly equivalent to Microsloth office.

Also, the way you listed the channels is interesting because a lot of the HD channels broadcast SD content and stretch it to 16:9 so that it looks like a fun-house mirror. In those cases I switch to the SD version of the channel which your table makes easy.

wallen/toastyfries -

79.3 also shows the Celtics games (even the away ones) in SD on replay hours after the original broadcast. But, much of the time 79.3 is off the air completely or has an "HD Sports" banner on it.

Used to see VOD in the low 120's on my TV with QAM tuner and now it doesn't show up. I guess they either moved it or are now scrambling all VOD sessions. This just happened in the last couple of days. Anybody else noticed this?

Agreed! VOD is gone. Probably a good thing that R&X rated programs not available by channel surfing. Less reason to scramble all QAM sooner rather than later.

Looks like the following are now scrambled.
134.3 TLC HD
134.2 DISCOVERY HD
128.3 CNN HD
128.2 TRAVEL HD

Perhaps the beginning of the end here. I pay for the HD tier on my boxes but don't have a box near this set. It may be time to consider promotions from FIOS and/or Comcast if this stuff continues. Anyone else notice the disappearing stations?

You may be right. I noticed the above are missing as of today along with

133.2 Animal planet HD
129.3 LMN HD
127.2 A&E HD
93.2 FX HD

I mostly watch HD for sports and those channels are all still here (ESPN, ESPN2, NESN, CSN) but it makes me wonder if they're next. I also pay for these channels already but I prefer not to use a set top box. If this is the way RCN is going I'm also inclined to look harder at Verizon and others. The main reason I was sticking with RCN was because I could get a decent channel lineup without a set top box. If that's changing the big differentiator is gone.

Stay tuned...

I agree. I lost the same group of channels. I think those are the most recently added batch. I wonder what their logic is. All it will do is cause me, and apparently a few others, to look at my options. I'm pretty sure that my wife was watching a lot of AETVHD and I was watching a decent amount of FXHD. I guess those networks have a couple less viewers.

You would think that the networks would want the highest number of viewers and would encourage the cable operators to have these in the clear. I'm not sure what they gain.

I noticed the same channels lost. Really disappointing if you ask me. I would rather not have to rent another cable box.

Noticed in Lexington most of the HD channels have disappeared. Time to explore other options. Rcn must be trying to reduce their customer count.