Boston, MA - Comcast - Page 10

In Bedford NH, I called and asked, and they said I could just pick up the cable cards at the local Comcast office, and they could activate them over the phone.

Once I got to the Nashua office, they looked up the work order on their PC, said that it required a truck roll, but since they'd promised me I could do it myself, they elected not to charge me for the home visit.

So, I got the truck roll for free, and the install of the two cable cards into my TiVo Series 3 went off with a small hitch (they misread a number over the phone the first time), but the installer detected this before I even realized he was having problems. It was a short visit, and all has worked since then.

Hey guys,
I have a Westinghouse 32" and am using QAM to tune into the local broadcast HD channels (ABC/NBC, etc). Anyway, I did a rescan yesterday and now all the HD channels I care about (84.x - 87.x) are no longer being picked up. it goes from 81.x straight to 88-1. The Westinghouse is a bit crappy and won't let you add channels in manually properly, so now I have no way to get all those channels back unless I do a limited scan in which case I can get it to lock onto one single channel like 84-1 ABC, but only one at a time.

I noticed some other people with Panasonics having problems with something else QAM related too, not sure if it's related.

Bottom line: if you already have channels scanned in through QAM, don't rescan for now

Zeroredrum,

I am sure you understand exactly what the Comcast Rep said. Since no one is more knoweldgeable that a comcast rep and that they are never wrong, you should go buy the "cablecard" from Bestbuy. BB has 30 days money back guarantee so you can always return the item if you don't like it.

Hi All,

I just got off the phone with Comcast on Lowell MA, I was trying to find out what all I needed to start receiving HD for my new plasma. I wanted to know if I already had an HD box, but the lady couldn't help me.

I currently have the silver Comcast (moto) stb. It has hdmi out. Is this not the HD DVR? I was under the impression that after I turned in my non-functioning box last year, they gave me an HD one in return. Why would it have hdmi if it's not the hd box?

If it IS the hd box, what do I need to do to start receiving HD? Just call them and ask?

Thanks

Comcast Boston HD Channel Lineup
=====================================================
Based on lineup in Lawrence Ma 03-06-07
=====================================================
Channel Network Tier required
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
802 PBS HD channel Basic
804 WBZ (CBS) Basic
805 WCVB (ABC) Basic
807 WHDH (NBC) Basic
809 WMUR (ABC) Basic
821 National Geo Starter (Despite National Geo SD on Classic)
825 WFXT (Fox) Basic
828 MHD Starter AND Classic
833 TNT Classic
838 WSBK Basic
839 Discovery HD Theater Classic
846 Universal HD Classic
848 Verses / Golf HD Starter
849 ESPN Classic
850 ESPN 2 Starter
851 NESN Starter
856 WLVI (CW) Basic
868 Cinemax Cinemax
870 HBO HBO
875 Starz Starz
877 Showtime Showtime
881 INHD / FSN-HD Classic

The website is a bit confusing. From the "My Channel Lineup" page


Can I get basic cable and digital starter and get all the HD channels except the premium movie ones ?

Digital Starter is extended basic with a box. Digital starter with Classic will get you all the non premium HD channels.

(The sports and Entertainment tier will probably be the place for HDNet)

OK, I got my HD all fired up. I'm miffed that I don't get ESPNHD, TNTHD, and a few others due to my level of digital cable (starter). The sales guy tried to sell me the higher digital package just to get ESPNHD.

Where's ESPN8 HD? The ocho!

MHD,TNT,Discovery HT,UHD,and eSPN1 HD require Digital Classic.

How does the new non-tier pricing work ? What is I want digital service without a box ? Is there anyway to get all the non premium HD channels with getting extended basic ?

look at my chart. Channels listed as requiring starter REQUIRE EXTENDED BASIC!

So who's the one that started the rumor about this mysterious Sports and Entertainment tier?

I hope this is the place to post this.

I have a basic cable package through Comcast here in boston. With it I get HD channels like CBS, NBC, ABC, etc. I want to capture those with my tuner (the miglia tvmini hd), but the tuner can't seem to find these hd channels when i hook it up to my cable even though it CAN tune clearQAM. So has anyone else tried anything like this? Does comcast pass these channels in the clear in boston?

There IS a Sports and entertainment Tier. It is a merger opf the old Premiere pack and Sports tier.

The cost is $7.95 extra or $4 with Digital platinum (all the movie channels)

I'm not sure why you're not able to find them. They were there just a few weeks ago (last time I checked). I think they're up in the 87, 88 range. I've had no problem any time in the past tuning in the HD locals on Comcast in the Boston area.

For Clear QAM, my local HD's recently moved to 4-1, 5-1, 7-1, 25-1 etc. from their former 86, 87 subchannel range. Try tuning to these.

My understanding is that they didn't "move" anything, but rather simply started sending PSIP. Maybe there is a problem with jforeman's equipment's ability to use the PSIP that Comcast is now sending?

It's very likely that the HDs didn't move from their previous subchannel ranges, that their assignments were simply re-mapped via PSIP. So, they're still on the same frequencies on the wire (88-7 and such), but are displayed to you in a more human-readable form (25-1).

I still have my QAM channels in the 87-88 range, I would suggest anyone who can't find them anymore to do a rescan.

I believe anyone doing a rescan in the Boston/S. NH area will find they do in fact re-map to 2.2,2.1,5.1,7.1,7.2, etc.

WOW, thats all i have to say. I got my NEW Comcast HD DVR and package installed yesterday (as i posted before it was getting installed soon) and All I have to Say Is.... AMAZING. The funniest thing is my wife usually couldn't care about HD vs SDTV and when i decided to switch she wasn't supportive (she doesn't care about HDTV). But the funniest thing happened last night we were watching Tv and she had the remote and she said wow these tv channels look great, they are so clear 9non HD locals) and before she even hit the HD shows complimented on how great the cable looked compared to what we had before, then i said let me see the remote and switched to HD locals and she was floored, its the first time i actually got her to admit HD was better and that It looked better. She even commented on how the colors were more bright and vivid and that the channels looked clear while switching between them and that HDTV (we watched the new movie Th Wild, a kids cartoon and it was really amazing), the DTV PQ varied so much each channel was different with muddy colors, pixleation and washed out colors, unlike comcast where each channel looked high res and each was similar and they got better in hd but overall its 2x better all around channel to channel and blows dtv out of the water

The PQ is outstanding, i previously had DTV with HD (no locals due to having to pay over 600 to upgrade to mpeg4) which looked good (at least i thought) but once i viewed Comcast HD i was Blown away. The PQ is so much) better than the DTV service i was getting, Dtv had 480i output with a poor upscaler which did upscale to 480p on non HD, but with the new motorola Comcast box its out put in TRUE 480p and 1080i which to my surprise is so much clearer and more detailed. All the channels look great on Comcast where on Dtv they went from good HD to poor locals which had alot of pixilation and blocky ness most the time esp in cloudy weather. The crystal clear pics are amazing as well as Awesome HD on demand, All the BS satellite pushes about 100% digital and better than cable is so funny, Comcast has 2X the resolution an PQ IMO, i am so glad i signed up and switched, best of all no contracts no equiptment to buy and 1 yr locked price for all 3 (phone, broadband and HD cable). Anyone that is thinking about switching can be assured you wont be disappointed.

That's all true, but it's better to not say that here. Comcast may read this and decide to raise their rates again. So repeat after me: "It's Comcrap! ... Why is 845 a freakin' SD weather channel? ... When are they gonna add HDnet?" You'll get the hang of it.

Mickey

When ARE they going to add HDNet? Is the Sports and Entertainment tier the one that has FSC and the Tennis Channel or is it something else? (And why waste limited bandwidth on 845. It's the freakin' SD weather channel! )

They'll probably add HDNet when HDNet allows them to add HDNet in to a service tier.

I think Comcast has other ideas. With them doing away with INHD2 and INHD having hardly any movies on it now the only place to see a good HD movie is, you guessed it OnDemand! Thats right! besides a few old movies they throw in for free, if you want to see a good recent movie your gonna have to pay for it and right now thats 5.99 a whack. Seems like this is the road their heading down so I don't think we'll see HDnet anytime soon.

I was assuming it would be the sports and Entertainment tier.

The one thing Marc cuban could offer comcast = HDNet on Demand!

chitchatjf = broken record !!!

i thought we were losing nfl network?

Nope Still part of Digital prefered.

The OnDemand HD movies aren't usually OAR or 5.1 so for $6 a pop I'll have to pass on them. That being the case you'd be better off just subscribing to a premium movie channel.

For the freebie stuff there occasionally is a good one in there every once in a while (OnDemand HD). I just watched Navy Seals, and it was quite good. OAR, even though DD2.1, gave my sub quite a workout. Check it out if you get a chance.

As for the free movie channels, there is UHD, and while not the best, it's the only one we have right now, so it's hard to complain when we only have one. As you say, INHD shows virtually no movies anymore, so we have to rely on whatever comes on UHD- watch them very closely for "oneshots", I find they are now more and more frequently starting to show movies once and only once, "Jaws" was only on once in Jan (if you can believe it), and Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and Bordello of Blood as well...