[gt5059b]

Can someone explain why there are differences in HD lineups for the various Comcast markets?? Also, I'm not talking about carriage of the local affiliates of ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS, UPN, WB, etc.


Mainly, I don't understand why some cities have channels like Discovery-HD and Starz-HD, but not others.


Also, today Comcast Atlanta added Cinemax-HD, but removed HBOW-HD. I thought cable had the capacity to support tons of HD channels.


Right now we have nine HD channels (if u count FOX) and wondering if the reason we don't have Discovery, Starz, Bravo, etc. could be one of capacity. Anyone in another Comcast market have more than nine HD channels?


thanks,

jt

 

[Jeremyfr]

in Seattle we have 11 not including the 3 additional feeds of PBS digital from there multicast. They include, our local ABC,NBC,FOX,WB,PBS, a local independent,ESPN,HBO,SHO,Both INHD's, Starz & Cinemax on the way to make 13.


If Atlanta is not completely rebuilt to 860Mhz then there may be bandwidth issues but if they are built for 860 as most areas should be by now then there should not be any concern regarding available bandwidth for HD channels.

 

[Ken H]

Quote:

Originally posted by gt5059b Can someone explain why there are differences in HD lineups for the various Comcast markets??

Primarily for two reasons:


1) Different Comcast areas are 'built out' at different levels. Built out meaning the systems have different bandwidth capabilities.


2) Required head end hardware is ordered and implemented at varying times, based on bandwidth capability and other system requirements.


As time goes on, this will become less of an issue, much like the analog channels are now.

 

[maxman]

Quote:

Originally posted by gt5059b Anyone in another Comcast market have more than nine HD channels?

12 here (South Jersey):


ESPN

INHD

INHD2 (featuring programming from Comcast SportsNet HD)

WPVI (ABC)

WCAU (NBC)

KYW (CBS)

WTXF (Fox Widescreen)

WHYY (PBS)

HBO East

Showtime East

Cinemax East

Starz! East

 

[Ken H]

Detroit area Comcast HD:


CBS

ABC

NBC

FOX

PBS

INHD

INHD2

ESPN HD

Showtime HD

HBO HD

Cinemax HD

 

[jckessler]

Quote:

Originally posted by gt5059b I thought cable had the capacity to support tons of HD channels.

As far as I can tell, this is not true. Comcast here had to remove a couple of analog channels to make room for CBS-HD, Starz-HD and Cinemax-HD. I think Comcast in the Boston area is pretty close to being maxed out.


I guess cable can upgrade it's whole system to higher bandwidth by running fiber or getting rid of the analog channels altogether, but in the short term, they're pretty limited just like satellite.

 

[CycloneGT]

I think that over time, as Comcast negotiates new contracts, that you will see the lineups all fall inline with each other.


Many of Comcast's markets have only been bought up in the last 5 years, so there are still old contracts in effect which decide the lineups.

 

[Randi]

I've just gotten my Comcast HD box, and am somewhat disappointed in the HD quantity and quality. There are five HD channels that have programming, and three others that are always blank.


I get the local PBS station, which so far appears to be a simulcast of their normal programming. It appears to be SD too. I'm also getting HBO, Show Time, and two INHD channels, who's PQ is very good. I'm not sure they're HD though. My son says that they're probably just showing DVD movies, which is better than SD but not HD. I suppose there is also some amount of loss from compression.


The local channels and ESPN HD always show the "please wait" screen. I've yet to see anything on these channels. Then again, I picked up this box four days ago.

 

[the q]

INHD and INHD2 are always in HD. ( www.inhd.com )


While the majority of the programming on HBO and Showtime is available in HD, not all of it is.


Check the links below to see what's available in HD on these channels.

http://www.hbo.com/apps/schedule/Sch...ON_TODAY=TODAY

http://www.sho.com/site/schedules/hdtv.do


ESPN HD only is in HD sometimes:

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tvl.../espnhd/index?



My experience has been that PBS is mostly SD until prime time -- then they are in HD until about 1am or so.


As for the "one moment please" screens on your local HD's, I would call them at 1-800-COMCAST, and ask then to "hit your box", that may clear up your local HD channels.

 

[DDisney]

Quote:

Originally posted by the q INHD and INHD2 are always in HD. ( www.inhd.com ) As for the "one moment please" screens on your local HD's, I would call them at 1-800-COMCAST, and ask then to "hit your box", that may clear up your local HD channels.

It that does not work, check the signal strength for those channels. This is a symptom that often indicates a problem with the signal strength for particular channels. Make sure that the cable is properly connected and if your cable is split before going into the cable box, remove the splitter if possible. Also, don't route the cable through a surge protector. If you have the Moto 5100 box, you can go to one of the problem channels and press Power then OK within 2 seconds to get to the diagnostic menu. Check the Inbound Status menu using the arrow keys and observe the readings. If SNR/AGC reads poor or fair and if the uncorrectable error count is high (over 1K) then you could have a signal strength issue. Call Comcast for a service call if this persists.

 

[rollerfink]

Quote:

Originally posted by the q As for the "one moment please" screens on your local HD's, I would call them at 1-800-COMCAST, and ask then to "hit your box", that may clear up your local HD channels. [/b]

Even before calling Comcast you could try turning your cable box off and unplugging it from the wall for about 5 mins. When my INHDs were showing the "one moment please" this fixed it for me.


But then definitely call comcast because you should be getting these channels.

 

[Randi]

When broadband was first offered in our area, we immediately noticed that the PQ went down for our cable channels. That wasn't a big deal until ATT bought the cable service and reordered the channels. Since there was an increasing static snow on higher numbered channels, we couldn't see anything above channel 60 or so. I talked to the ATT service manager at a local home show, and he admitted that they had reduced bandwidth to accommodate broadband. He said that switching to digital wouldn't help with those channels, as the lower 99 will still be analog. We've subsequently gotten a Motorola broadband amplifier that has made all the difference in the world. That's not to say that we still don't have problems with signal quality coming into the house. I'll certainly give that diagnostic menu a try.


My original comments still stand. Only eight HD channels is nothing to rave about. Of the five that we currently get, we see no pixilation or other artifacts when viewing. I think that what I'm seeing is the PQ that I'm supposed to be seeing.


I watched the Everest special the night that I got the box in and thought "oh wow!" When my son came over on Sunday, it was on again but somehow didn't look as impressive. Changes keep happening to this HD box (Moto 5100), so perhaps Comcast isn't done sending it stuff. At first, my HDTV would say "function unavailable" when I try to resize the screen. Now it allows me to resize, but now the cable box won't show the channel bar or channel menu when an HD show is on.


I'm going to have to wait for this box to settle in before I make judgments about it...

 

[Jeremyfr]

Quote:

At first, my HDTV would say "function unavailable" when I try to resize the screen. Now it allows me to resize, but now the cable box won't show the channel bar or channel menu when an HD show is on.

This is a clear indicator your TV is now on SD input and not the HD input. HDTV's will not allow you to resize HD sources thats normal. But I can guarantee you that your tv is now set to either its internal NTSC tuner or an SD input like S-video or Composite video.

 

[Randi]

Jeremyfr: Methinks you may be right. When I watched the set last night, the HD channels were crystal clear again. The set may have switched over to the VHF cable at some point Sunday night. On Saturday, I was experimenting with direct access to the cable signal to avoid the TV Guide pop-up that appears and hangs on the screen whenever the channel is changed. That didn't work so I switched back to watching through the box. On Sunday, I may have somehow gotten back to VHF.


Curiously, I could not get the HD signal through the VHF connection this morning night. I wanted to see if this was what had happened, but got nothing but snow on channel-3 when the box was on INHD. Another oddity was the the TV was set to Theater-Wide mode 1 when I first switched to the INHD channel. I could see that the image was cropped, so I set the picture size to Full. When I later went to check the screen size, it responded with "feature not available". Also, I got back the channel guide that previously wasn't available while in HBOHD, INHD, or whatever.


I think I'm going to quit worrying about this box and enjoy the programming.

 

[kcbob79clone]

CBS

NBC

ABC

PBS

SHOE

HBOE

INHD1

INHD2

ESPN


Coming soon [supposedly]:

Cinemax

Starz

TMC

PBS multiple feeds


No plans:

Fox

WB

UPN

Bravo

DiscoveryHD

HDNet

HDNet Movies

 

[jl1718]

Quote:

Originally posted by kcbob79clone CBS NBC ABC PBS SHOE HBOE INHD1 INHD2 ESPN Coming soon [supposedly]: Cinemax Starz PBS multiple feeds No plans: Fox WB UPN Bravo DiscoveryHD HDNet HDNet Movies

Add HBO West and take away PBS that is us too. PBS, STARZ, and Cinemax are supposedly coming. A emailed I received made it sound like we would get once they felt like getting to it. Frustrating to say the least, our local Comcast officals seem to be less enthused about adding channels than they where a year ago. I emailed the person who sent out the press release about Starz and Cinemax and theey said everyone should have it by the end of January unless they are complications.

 

[TC_Lauderdale]

Quote:

Originally posted by Randi At first, my HDTV would say "function unavailable" when I try to resize the screen. Now it allows me to resize, but now the cable box won't show the channel bar or channel menu when an HD show is on.

Randi, go into the Moto 5100 settings (turn box OFF then hit MENU button) and make sure that you set your Output type to 1080i or whatever your desired HD resolution, and then set the fallback to 480i (if the fallback is set to anything other than 480i the Channel bar and associated menus will not display), at least that has been my experience.


As for HD channels in South FLA, our Comcast has 12, including ESPN-HD, INHD, INHD2, ShowHD, StarzHD, HBOHD, CinemaxHD, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and PBS.

 

[drhill]

kcbob79clone, you could add TMC-HD to the no plans section too. I haven't heard a darn thing about Comcast adding that to any system.

 

[spenbrad]

Salt Lake City Area Comcast HD



Showtime

HBO

ABC

NBC

CBS

FOX not hd yet

PBS

Starz

Cinemax

INHD

INHD 2

ESPN


I am still eagerly waiting for Discovery.

 

[stewlevine]

Dallas area HD


Showtime

HBO

ESPN

ABC

CBS

FOX (SD)

NBC


with reports (on broadbandreports.com) that INHD, INHD2, Cinemax, and Starz to arrive in Feb