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San Francisco, CA - Comcast - Page 101

post #3001 of 14809
9/26/07 at 2:42pm
Comcast takes months to get all things lined up to add even a single channel. No way they are going to move a large chunk of analog channels to Digital in a few years. The people who received the letters/calls might be under very initial "bucket testing". Comcast might be trying some possible options on very very small percentage of people.
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post #3002 of 14809
9/26/07 at 2:50pm
I thought I read somewhere a while back that Comcast had removed analog in the Chicago area...

Here is info of what they did in Chicago. Maybe Fremont be first in BA. More links here and here.
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post #3003 of 14809
9/26/07 at 2:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by raghu1111 View Post

Comcast takes months to get all things lined up to add even a single channel. No way they are going to move a large chunk of analog channels to Digital in a few years. The people who received the letters/calls might be under very initial "bucket testing". Comcast might be trying some possible options on very very small percentage of people.

They're already doing it... Digital Simulcasting... all you have to do is deploy boxes for those with analog sets and turn analog off, the digital channels are already there.

Laters,
Mikef5
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post #3004 of 14809
9/26/07 at 3:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by hiker View Post

I thought I read somewhere a while back that Comcast had removed analog in the Chicago area...

Here is info of what they did in Chicago. Maybe Fremont be first in BA.

I think they are just grooming a few channels in Fremont, not all of them. I have not received any calls but of cause I'm have boxes already. It is most likely only for the basic cable subs who are worried about C-SPAN 2.

Remember us digitial subs get the message saying C-SPAN 2 is going away. The analog guys need to be told somehow, I guess a phone call is it. That and the bill of course but who reads those
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post #3005 of 14809
9/26/07 at 3:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kevini View Post

I think they are just grooming a few channels in Fremont, not all of them. I have not received any calls but of cause I'm have boxes already. It is most likely only for the basic cable subs who are worried about C-SPAN 2.

Remember us digitial subs get the message saying C-SPAN 2 is going away. The analog guys need to be told somehow, I guess a phone call is it. That and the bill of course but who reads those

I double checked with my friends. Both of them have analog channels only. They received a phone message yesterday something like this: The Comcast cable will be all digital starting from Oct. 2nd.( just 6 days from now.). A STB is needed to receive your channels.

I really doubt if this can happen in a week. How many STBs Comcast needs to prepare for this? Maybe thousands, and they should not have enough tech. to handle the rush.

Of course, if it happens Fremont will get tremendous bandwith for HD, cable modem and VOD.
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post #3006 of 14809
9/26/07 at 4:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lmsyl View Post

I double checked with my friends. Both of them have analog channels only. They received a phone message yesterday something like this: The Comcast cable will be all digital starting from Oct. 2nd.( just 6 days from now.). A STB is needed to receive your channels.

I really doubt if this can happen in a week. How many STBs Comcast needs to prepare for this? Maybe thousands, and they should not have enough tech. to handle the rush.

Of course, if it happens Fremont will get tremendous bandwith for HD, cable modem and VOD.

While I don't want to say your friends mistaken on what was said to them but as Raghu implied in his post, Comcast moves slowly and methodically and would have given more than a weeks notice of something of this magnitude happening and this is definitely a major undertaking that would require much more planning and coordination than what a weeks notice would give. Just the distribution of new digital boxs to all the analog customers would take much longer than a couple of weeks. If Fremont is doing digital simulcasting the process of dropping analog would not be that hard but getting all the boxes distributed out would take months to do completely.

I will check with Mr. J. but I really doubt this is something that is going to happen anytime soon, especially since the FCC has decided that cable must do dual carriage ( analog and digital signals ) for 3 years past the drop dead date for analog , unless the cable company goes all digital before 2009 but I'll check just the same.

Laters,
Mikef5
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post #3007 of 14809
9/26/07 at 4:26pm
Did they state what year in Oct they are removing the analog channels? Maybe it's 2008.
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post #3008 of 14809
9/26/07 at 6:42pm
What happened to 722, used to be discovery hd, now its HTV or something. Did we lose discovery HD? I'm in the dublin area

i see its still discovery programming but looking the guide over the next few days looks like all diferent kinds of shows.
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post #3009 of 14809
9/26/07 at 6:43pm
Yes, ADS is simple thing from user's perspective. "Digital Only" is an entirely different beast. I am not sure if even Chicago has done since it was rumored to be done.
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post #3010 of 14809
9/26/07 at 7:09pm
disregard, the commercial durring the show was for discovery programming, i guess the comcast just changed the call letters in the guide. The programming does look different as far as what son the guide the nest few days
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post #3011 of 14809
9/26/07 at 7:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by smthrsd View Post

disregard, the commercial durring the show was for discovery programming, i guess the comcast just changed the call letters in the guide. The programming does look different as far as what son the guide the nest few days

Actually Comcast didn't change much. They just adhered to Discovery Network's change of the channel name. Discovery now has Discovery-HD which is an HD mirror of their Discovery Channel. Discovery Hd theater is now know as, simply, HD Theater.
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post #3012 of 14809
9/26/07 at 8:33pm
1. I had to replace one of my STB's, as I was getting sporadic guide info. I went to my local office and picked up a new box, hooked it up, and called 1.800.Comcast to have them send a hit to my replacement STB. The STB turned off shortly after he sent the hit, as expected. The CSR (Greg) said to wait a minute or two before turning it back on. While waiting, I asked him about the status of the upgrades for Sunnyvale. According to Greg, all of Sunnyvale should be turned on by the end of October. Of course, I took what he said with a (large) grain of salt. But, hopefully, this will give us Sunnyvale residents a general idea of when we might expect to see new HD channels and VOD.

2. When I called the 800 #, there was a recorded message that said something about needing a digital STB starting in October. I didn't really pay attention to the message because I already have them for each of my HDTV's, so I don't know how much of the Bay Area to which this applies. But it may confirm the previous posts about the Fremont area needing digital STBs.

As I said in a previous post, keeping my fingers crossed, but not holding my breath regarding the upgrades for Sunnyvale. I guess we'll see what happens in 4-6 (maybe 8) weeks.
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post #3013 of 14809
9/26/07 at 9:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MANNAXMAN View Post

2. When I called the 800 #, there was a recorded message that said something about needing a digital STB starting in October. I didn't really pay attention to the message because I already have them for each of my HDTV's, so I don't know how much of the Bay Area to which this applies. But it may confirm the previous posts about the Fremont area needing digital STBs.

I just called the 800 number to check the message and they say that all customer need a digital box to watch C-SPAN2. So it is only a grooming of C-SPAN from analog announcement, nothing more.
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post #3014 of 14809
9/26/07 at 9:33pm
THAT makes much more sense. So who would go get a cable box just to watch C-SPAN2?
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post #3015 of 14809
9/26/07 at 10:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeSM View Post


I like the fact they monitor the forums for input on adding channels, but who asked for Golf/VS? I don't think that's the highest in demand programming.

Hockey fans (and I'm one of 'em). Eh.
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post #3016 of 14809
9/27/07 at 12:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by keenan View Post

I plan to do some direct comparisons with Comcast locals vs DirecTV locals this weekend, but my initial impression is that the D* locals are looking pretty good as well. Definitely better than the MPEG2 stuff they have.

It would be great if you included E* (Dish Network) in the comparison, too. Since you have all three services, you're in a good position to do that. Also, how do some of the other new DirecTV MPEG4 channels compare to Dish MPEG4?

Larry
SF
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post #3017 of 14809
9/27/07 at 12:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry Kenney View Post

It would be great if you included E* (Dish Network) in the comparison, too. Since you have all three services, you're in a good position to do that. Also, how do some of the other new DirecTV MPEG4 channels compare to Dish MPEG4?

Larry
SF

Larry, I plan to include Dish as well but probably won't have the time until this weekend, I hope. I can already say that there's something weird with KPIX on Dish, I get these streaks of horizontal lines every once in awhile. It was doing the same thing last year. I always seem to notice it when watching Two and a Half Men. It's an odd image issue that is different than the normal issues one sees, pixelating, macroblocking, etc..this is a very thin horizontal streak that appears only partially across the screen.
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post #3018 of 14809
9/27/07 at 8:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikef5 View Post

I will check with Mr. J. but I really doubt this is something that is going to happen anytime soon, especially since the FCC has decided that cable must do dual carriage ( analog and digital signals ) for 3 years past the drop dead date for analog , unless the cable company goes all digital before 2009 but I'll check just the same.

Hence, the reason for the rush?
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post #3019 of 14809
9/27/07 at 9:33am
I have a few questions:

1.) I have the standard cable package through Comcast but there are some HD channels available to me OTA and through comcast I'm guessing. Is there a need for me to get the digital cable package along with a HD receiver? I have a Samsung LNT4665 if that matters. Would the quality of both SD and HD channels look better with a HDMI receiver as opposed to the RF cable(?) I'm currently using?

2.) Does anyone have a channel listing for the standard cable? I have a bunch of channels in the 120-130 range that isn't listed in the preview channel.
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post #3020 of 14809
9/27/07 at 10:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by garypen View Post

Hence, the reason for the rush?

Nope. Comcast explicitly told the FCC they would not be all-digital by then in their cablecard waiver request. The FCC denied the waiver request and Comcast just fiiled an appeal in Federal court.

Comcast has no intention of being all digital by 2009. Believe me, if they were, a lot of companies here in the valley would be very happy selling them a lot more gear, and wall street would be seeing higher cap ex numbers.

Thanks
Mike
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post #3021 of 14809
9/27/07 at 11:51am
Fremont Not Dropping All Analog Channels

For those that were concerned about the dropping of all analog channels in Fremont,
I asked Mr. J. for clarification and here is what really is happening....

________________________________________________

WE ARE NOT DROPPING ALL analog channels in Fremont, or anywhere else for
that matter.

We are moving CSPAN 2 to digital tier on 10/2/07, launching CSPAN 3 on
Digital that same day....and, wait for it...using the CSPAN bandwidth to
launch TBS HD on 10/3 and preparing the way for the other HD channels
later in the month.

The phone calls are being made to encourage customers with out set-top
boxes to get them if they want to continue to see CSPAN2/CSPAN3.

We will be moving a couple of other channels in October, including Cal
Channel and TV Guide, to the digital tier...and, wait for it...so we can
launch another HD channel in December and another one in January
(contracts permitting). We will do similar outreach efforts, including
calls to customers, each time we make one of these changes.
_________________________________________________________

So it's just moving some analog channels to digital and freeing up bandwidth
so they can add some new HD channels

Laters,
Mikef5
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post #3022 of 14809
9/27/07 at 11:58am
Anybody else have their Comcast box lock (as in "enter your PIN" kind of lock) on Wednesday?

(Hopefully, it wasn't caused by the return of the Phantom Pornster - when I replaced one of my two Comcast boxes with CableCARDs, suddenly my remaining box started getting porn charges, so I put a parental lock on the box and also had my "PPV credit" dropped to zero (so I have to call in if I ever want to watch a PPV, but I never do, so it's not really a problem).)

-- Don
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post #3023 of 14809
9/27/07 at 12:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikef5 View Post

We will be moving a couple of other channels in October, including Cal Channel and TV Guide, to the digital tier...and, wait for it...so we can launch another HD channel in December and another one in January (contracts permitting).

December?
January?
Let the speculation begin...

-- Don
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post #3024 of 14809
9/27/07 at 12:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikef5 View Post

Fremont Not Dropping All Analog Channels

For those that were concerned about the dropping of all analog channels in Fremont,
I asked Mr. J. for clarification and here is what really is happening....

________________________________________________

WE ARE NOT DROPPING ALL analog channels in Fremont, or anywhere else for
that matter.

We are moving CSPAN 2 to digital tier on 10/2/07, launching CSPAN 3 on
Digital that same day....and, wait for it...using the CSPAN bandwidth to
launch TBS HD on 10/3 and preparing the way for the other HD channels
later in the month.

The phone calls are being made to encourage customers with out set-top
boxes to get them if they want to continue to see CSPAN2/CSPAN3.

We will be moving a couple of other channels in October, including Cal
Channel and TV Guide, to the digital tier...and, wait for it...so we can
launch another HD channel in December and another one in January
(contracts permitting). We will do similar outreach efforts, including
calls to customers, each time we make one of these changes.
_________________________________________________________

So it's just moving some analog channels to digital and freeing up bandwidth
so they can add some new HD channels

Laters,
Mikef5

This proves my point about how the plant is constraining Comcast's ability to compete with DirecTV on HD. They have to turn off analog channels to find capacity to add HD channels. That's fine for one's and two's, but no way they will turn off 10 analog channels to be able to add 20 like DirecTV did yesterday.

It also indicates that those of us on 860 plant are going to get NO more channels than those on 750 plant. That extra 110 Mhz of spectrum can support 36 new HD channels. (110 Mhz/6 Mhz/channel = 18.xxx * 2 HD channels/6 Mhz = 36 HD channels). If this wasn't the case they could launch TBS and the rest TODAY on 860 systems. But no new channels are showing up on my box.

Comcast is so hosed in terms of capacity that they have no prayer of competing in HD unless they go to SDV or turn off a heck of a lot of analog capacity, or at least exploit the extra 110 Mhz of spectrum in 860 markets.

If I'm wrong, then please correct me. Otherwise let's just admit that Comcast is going to be in 3rd place (out of 3) behind DirecTV and Dish in terms of HD and will permanently stay in 3rd place.

I like cutting through all the marketing bull and dealing with facts. I'm committed to stay with comcast because of Sage and the R5000-HD, but I'm not happy about Comcast's strategy for adding channels.

This is all really Comcastic... :-(


thanks,
Mike
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post #3025 of 14809
9/27/07 at 12:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeSM View Post

Comcast has no intention of being all digital by 2009. Believe me, if they were, a lot of companies here in the valley would be very happy selling them a lot more gear, and wall street would be seeing higher cap ex numbers.

Thanks
Mike

Mike,

Your joking right ?? No intention of being all digital by 2009 ???? I beg to differ, if Comcast could go all digital tomorrow they would do so, but they are a huge cable company that expands across this country and not some "Mom and Pop" cable company that were granted waivers because it would be a hardship or not cost effective for them. Comcast on the other hand is a totally different matter.

Take for instance the Bay Area for one example. This area was so neglected by the previous owners, TCI and AT&T, that they have to do almost a complete upgrade/rebuild to most of the systems here. Now do that in every State and every major area in those States that they bought out or took over and you can see it's a massive undertaking and to imply they have no intention of going all digital is disingenuous.

Comcast never said they have no intention of going all digital but that they would not be able to be all digital by that date because of how much work and coordination this would entail.

Laters,
Mikef5
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post #3026 of 14809
9/27/07 at 12:20pm
Moving TVGuide to digital? What the heck is the point of that?

If they are going to do that, might as well get rid of it.

As for dish vs cable - at least cable can claim they have quality over quantity. Not to mention, several of the glorious new "HD" channels that the dish people are claiming have little to zero HD content anyway (like CNN) at least for the short term...
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post #3027 of 14809
9/27/07 at 12:27pm
Mike5, earlier mail from Mr. J mentioned about more HD channels in Oct, is it Dec/Jan now? I hope the Dec/Jan comment was 'in addition' to Oct channels. Wow, Comcast is willing to remove TVGuide, thats pretty big step for them? May be that will nudge more people get a digital box (and will piss them off if the digital box is not free).
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post #3028 of 14809
9/27/07 at 12:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by walk View Post

Moving TVGuide to digital? What the heck is the point of that?

. Right. How else can you find local weather every 5 min of scroll .
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post #3029 of 14809
9/27/07 at 12:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeSM View Post

This proves my point about how the plant is constraining Comcast's ability to compete with DirecTV on HD. They have to turn off analog channels to find capacity to add HD channels. That's fine for one's and two's, but no way they will turn off 10 analog channels to be able to add 20 like DirecTV did yesterday.

It also indicates that those of us on 860 plant are going to get NO more channels than those on 750 plant. That extra 110 Mhz of spectrum can support 36 new HD channels. (110 Mhz/6 Mhz/channel = 18.xxx * 2 HD channels/6 Mhz = 36 HD channels). If this wasn't the case they could launch TBS and the rest TODAY on 860 systems. But no new channels are showing up on my box.

Comcast is so hosed in terms of capacity that they have no prayer of competing in HD unless they go to SDV or turn off a heck of a lot of analog capacity, or at least exploit the extra 110 Mhz of spectrum in 860 markets.

If I'm wrong, then please correct me. Otherwise let's just admit that Comcast is going to be in 3rd place (out of 3) behind DirecTV and Dish in terms of HD and will permanently stay in 3rd place.

I like cutting through all the marketing bull and dealing with facts. I'm committed to stay with comcast because of Sage and the R5000-HD, but I'm not happy about Comcast's strategy for adding channels.

This is all really Comcastic... :-(


thanks,
Mike

Darn, Mike, you just don't get it do you ?? Comcast has to carry those analog channels, the FCC requires them to carry them past the analog drop dead date in 2009. Does any of the Sat company's have to carry BOTH analog and digital .... NO... Does this take up bandwidth that the cable company's could use to add more HD ..... YES.... bitch at the FCC and their myopic rulings and not the cable company's. Why don't we put everyone on an equal footing and require the Sat's carry BOTH the analog and digital channels. Don't you think that would be fair ??? Then we could see how much they can actually handle when they are hobbled by the same requirements.

You know it's fine and dandy that you sit in a fully upgraded area and get a lot of channels that some areas still don't get and you bitch at Comcast and want more. At least Comcast is trying to do the right thing and get ALL areas up to snuff so they can all get what you now get. If anyone has a right to bitch it's the 550 MHz areas so give it a rest. If you are that dissatisfied with Comcast bite the bullet and go with a Sat company, maybe they can meet your needs.

Laters,
Mikef5
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post #3030 of 14809
9/27/07 at 12:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by raghu1111 View Post

Mike5, earlier mail from Mr. J mentioned about more HD channels in Oct, is it Dec/Jan now? I hope the Dec/Jan comment was 'in addition' to Oct channels. Wow, Comcast is willing to remove TVGuide, thats pretty big step for them? May be that will nudge more people get a digital box (and will piss them off if the digital box is not free).

No, different HD channels, the ones in Oct are still on schedule, last I heard. I have no knowledge of TvGuide channel since it doesn't exist in my area but if they move any of the analog channels to digital it is a good thing IMHO
It doesn't matter what Comcast does or doesn't do, someone is going to be pissed one way or the other but what can you do. If you go to any other provider you have to have a box on all your tv's, cable company's are the last of the breed that don't, at least for basic cable.

Laters,
Mikef5
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