[smithfarmer]

I'd like to thank Comcast for the Royal Screwing I knew would be forthcoming when I first read about them getting our service area. I so hoped we would be taken over by Time Warner and was greatly dismayed upon reading that wouldn't be happening.


I am an Ultimate Advantage Pak subscriber (this means that I have everything they offer) with two HD DVR's and thanks to Comcast I can now look forward to paying higher fees for a much lower level of programming.


I have lost the following channels:


(these five are no big deal)


110 American Life TV Network

132 ESPN U

136 CNBC World

164 B-Mania

169 Colours


These three excellent HD channels


761 HDNet

762 HDNet MOVIES

764 INHD2


And all of these Premium channels


209 HBO Plus West

210 HBO Signature West

211 HBO Family West

212 HBO Comedy West

213 HBO Zone West

214 HBO Latino West

226 Showtime West

227 Showtime Too West

228 Showtime Showcase West

229 Showtime Extreme West

230 Showtime Beyond West

233 TMC West

234 TMC Xtra West

242 Starz! West

246 Starz! Cinema West

249 Encore West

251 Encore Love Stories West

253 Encore Westerns West

255 Encore Mystery West

257 Encore Drama West

259 Encore Action West

275 MoreMAX West

276 ActionMAX West

277 ThrillerMAX West

308 IN DEMAND 8

309 iN DEMAND 9


These few worthless additional channels below hardly make up for what is lost above.


201 WXEL - PBS CREATE - B* NEW!

Knowledge Network - B* NEW!

212 WPEC-CBS Weather - B* NEW!

216 WPTV-NBC Weather PLUS - B* NEW!

101 WeatherScan NEW!

122 Fine Living NEW!

128 Sprout NEW!

167 IndiePlex NEW!

168 RetroPlex NEW!

173 TV One NEW!


404 ESPN 2 HD NEW!

405 VERSUS/Golf HD NEW!

407 TNT HD NEW!

411 Music HD NEW!


I was a DTV subscriber from 1997 till 2002. I switched back to Adelphia because they had greatly enhanced their channel line up during the time frame I was with DTV and thus I perceived them to be a much greater value and convinced many of my friends and family to give up the dish.


I am truly one pissed off customer and far as I am concerned, the bastards at Comcast who are responsible for this can go lay down in a corner somewhere and lick themselves like the dogs they are.


It's time to go back to satellite and I sincerely hope many others customers do the same.

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

This is a HD Forum.


You lost 3 - and everyone in America lost 1 of those 3 - inhd2.


You picked up 4 HD and actually lost 2.


They got rid of the West Coast Feeds that are 3 hours behind the East Coast Feed so they could *gasp* have more bitrate for HD. I have stated over and over that I wish TWC would do this. You have a DVR - just grab it then and watch it 3 hours later - Again, they aren't even HD, so again, so you should be happy.


Go back to satellite - I'll would gladly trade you my D* or E* account full of HD-LITE if you can have Comcast give me your account.

 

[Clarence]

When Adelphia switched to Comcast last week, I lost HDNet and HDNet Movies, but gained ESPN2, Discovery HD, and TNT HD.


(HBO HD, StarzHD, SHO-HD, ESPN, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, FOX, INHD stayed the same).


I'll miss HDNet, but I'm glad to add ESPN2, so it doesn't seem like a huge loss. Still much better than E* or D*.

 

[smithfarmer]



Quote:
Originally Posted by HDTVFanAtic /forum/post/0



This is a HD Forum.


You lost 3 - and everyone in America lost 1 of those 3 - inhd2.


You picked up 4 HD and actually lost 2.


They got rid of the West Coast Feeds that are 3 hours behind the East Coast Feed so they could *gasp* have more bitrate for HD. I have stated over and over that I wish TWC would do this. You have a DVR - just grab it then and watch it 3 hours later - Again, they aren't even HD, so again, so you should be happy.


Go back to satellite - I'll would gladly trade you my D* or E* account full of HD-LITE if you can have Comcast give me your account.

I'm quite aware this is a HD forum and I find it quite laughable that you think I should be happy with the loss of 24 SD premium channels so that I'll have more bitrate for HD. These were channels that I could watch at any time without having to waste space on my DVR's hard drive. I only use my DVR for saving HD content and it's almost full.


As for my HD channel loss/gain ratio:


I picked up ESPN2, Versus/Golf, MTV HD and TNT HD and I lost HD Net and HD Net Movies which were two of my favorite channels. I didn't realize that INHD 2 was dropped until I did a little search, so you got me there.


ESPN2 - I like sports so ESPN2 is acceptable but I'm an even bigger movie fan.


Versus/Golf - I like to golf and play whenever I can, but the only golf I'll watch on tv is the Masters and the other 3 majors plus the Tour Championship and all of those events are already broadcast in HD by ABC, CBS and NBC. This channel is a complete waste of available bitrate. They show golf during the weekday and switch to the Versus channel at night and on the weekends. Last night they were showing a lacrosse match. Need I say more!


MTV in HD. Give me a F'ing break.


TNT HD - Have you ever watched the garbage that is TNT HD? Last night for example, besides the multitude of commercial interruptions, they were showing Deep Impact in a 4:3 AR stretched to fill a 16:9 screen. Maybe you like watching vertically compressed movies with 30% of the films content missing from the sides. I don't. Really great use of available bitrate there.

HD Net Movies is an excellent channel for watching classic films like Serpico, Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now etc., etc. These movies are uncut and in their OAR with no commercials.


HD Net has a lot of very cool original HD content plus some TV series that were filmed in HD. No more Bikini Destinations on a 120" screen.

I stand by my original post and will switch back to the dish. Hopefully, with the added capacity of the new birds soon to be in orbit, they'll increase the bit rate. That along with the new MPEG4 STB's and even more HD channels on the way, I don't think HD Lite will be such a bad option at all.

 

[Todd]

Losing HDNet would suck, big time! That may be the one thing that keeps me from switching back to COX this year.

Quote:
Originally Posted by smithfarmer /forum/post/0


TNT HD - Have you ever watched the garbage that is TNT HD? Last night for example, besides the multitude of commercial interruptions, they were showing Deep Impact in a 4:3 AR stretched to fill a 16:9 screen. Maybe you like watching vertically compressed movies with 30% of the films content missing from the sides. I don't. Really great use of available bitrate there.

Yeh, I set my HDTiVo up to record Deep Impact last night since I've never seen it and I assumed (I know I know, I shouldn't assume anything with TNT-HD) it would be in HD on a Saturday night. When I tuned in and saw it wasn't, I cursed TNT and dumped the recording. Ridiculous....

 

[smithfarmer]

They broadcast it in HD alright but it's far from what any sane person would call HD. I can't understand how the people at TNT who are responsible for this crap can even look at themselves in the mirror and not be ashamed at what they do. They're a bunch of worthless douchebags as far as I'm concerned.

 

[rebkell]



Quote:
Originally Posted by smithfarmer /forum/post/0


They broadcast it in HD alright but it's far from what any sane person would call HD. I can't understand how the people at TNT who are responsible for this crap can even look at themselves in the mirror and not be ashamed at what they do. They're a bunch of worthless douchebags as far as I'm concerned.

Hehe, so true, too bad the tvs will only stretch, would be nice to have a mode to force them to 4:3, and ESPN2-HD is a joke in my book, they hardly ever have any live events in HD, they did have the East-West FB game last night, hopefully it will get better, but it's not much more than a sharp 4:3 station to me.

 

[Ken H]



Quote:
Originally Posted by smithfarmer /forum/post/0


They broadcast it in HD alright but it's far from what any sane person would call HD. I can't understand how the people at TNT who are responsible for this crap can even look at themselves in the mirror and not be ashamed at what they do. They're a bunch of worthless douchebags as far as I'm concerned.

Well, not all of their programming is stretched SD. They do a solid HD job with the NBA and NASCAR, some golf, and inconsistent series and movies. I've heard they will step up the effort this year dramatically.


I can empathise with your loss of HDNet & HDNet Movies, but until Comcast & Mark Cuban reach an agreement, it looks like your only choice is to go DBS.

 

[Ken H]



Quote:
Originally Posted by rebkell /forum/post/0


....ESPN2-HD is a joke in my book, they hardly ever have any live events in HD...

What's your definition of 'hardly ever'?

 

[rebkell]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken H /forum/post/0


What's your definition of 'hardly ever'?

less than 25% I guess, Just looking at my guide, I see 30 minutes of HD at 4:30 in the morning "Outside the Lines" , and the next HD I see is at 4:00 am Tuesday morning, and it's a replay of the Dallas at Miami game(that's also not live) ... am I missing something? Honestly I never seem to find anything in HD on ESPN2. They have a lot of good games, but not much in HD. The picture quality of their 4:3 stuff looks good, and I like the 5.1 sound.

 

[homcom]



Quote:
Originally Posted by rebkell /forum/post/0


ESPN2-HD is a joke in my book, they hardly ever have any live events in HD,

352 live events last year, and many other taped events and studio shows in HD for ESPN2HD. Even more coming this year.

 

[Ken H]



Quote:
Originally Posted by rebkell /forum/post/0


less than 25% I guess...

Well, they are definitely less than 25%, even last summer when they had MLB & NHRA Drag Racing. It seems now they have a few live HD events each week, which I'd describe as more than hardly ever.

 

[rebkell]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken H /forum/post/0


Well, they are definitely less than 25%, even last summer when they had MLB & NHRA Drag Racing. It seems now they have a few live HD events each week, which I'd describe as more than hardly ever.

I guess so, maybe it's better in the summer months, I've only had it for a couple of weeks, but 30 minutes in the next 24 hours is pretty low, and then two hours(which is a replay) the next day isn't what I'd call much.

 

[smithfarmer]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken H /forum/post/0


Well, not all of their programming is stretched SD. They do a solid HD job with the NBA and NASCAR, some golf, and inconsistent series and movies. I've heard they will step up the effort this year dramatically.


I can empathise with your loss of HDNet & HDNet Movies, but until Comcast & Mark Cuban reach an agreement, it looks like your only choice is to go DBS.

Thanks for the info. I honestly would like to stay since by default I will always be a customer due to my neighborhoods HOA contract with them for expanded basic that also includes HBO and they're also my internet provider as well, but I simply refuse to pay more, for way less content than I previously was receiving.


I will go with DBS for the other Premium channels and HD content. A year from now, if things have changed, I'll switch back. It's that simple.

 

[McDonoughDawg]

Indie and Retro aren't bad, really.

 

[smithfarmer]



Quote:
Originally Posted by McDonoughDawg /forum/post/0


Indie and Retro aren't bad, really.

But they're in SD. I haven't had a chance to check them out. Hopfully they're at least commercial free.

 

[chr31ter]

Why would anyone be worried about losing the West Coast SD feeds of premium movie channels when they've got two DVRs AND On Demand?

 

[colossus]



Quote:
Originally Posted by homcom /forum/post/0


352 live events last year, and many other taped events and studio shows in HD for ESPN2HD. Even more coming this year.

...an average of less than 1 live HD program a day is hardly something to get excited about (or waste BW on, IMO)...after all, it is a sports channel....

 

[homcom]



Quote:
Originally Posted by colossus /forum/post/0


...an average of less than 1 live HD program a day is hardly something to get excited about (or waste BW on, IMO)...after all, it is a sports channel....

That number does not include the studio shows or any other taped programming as well.

 

[smithfarmer]



Quote:
Originally Posted by chr31ter /forum/post/0


Why would anyone be worried about losing the West Coast SD feeds of premium movie channels when they've got two DVRs AND On Demand?

Like I said earlier, the DVR's are for saving HD content, not SD. OnDemand does not offer content in HD. One DVR is in my Home Theater for use with my projector and it is generally used only on the weekends and and only for watching movies. The other DVR is in the family room and is used for saving HD tv shows such as Lost, 24, The Sopranos, Heros etc., etc. for watching during the week or when I don't feel like firing up the projector.



I happened to enjoy having the added flexibility that the west coast feeds offered. I find it strange that anyone would argue against having more content available to them whenver they turn on their tv, but maybe that's just me.