Comcast Digital Converters

[heffneil]

I just had comcast here because I am having problem with my HD Homeruns. The tech told me that comcast is changing to the digital converters so my HD Homeruns are not going to work !!!!! Anyone else dealing with this problem?

If so how are you dealing with it?

Neil

[heffneil]

Ok just found good threads on this so please disregard.

Looks like it is no good for me since it will be analog. Man TV is going to suck around here for a while now!!!

i'll go with network tuning with directv before I will give comcast another dime. F them.

The dude from comcast told me two are free and the others are like an additional couple bucks. I am still hopeful for the ceton card. Looks like Andy has a good ceton driving coming for sage so I will hang loose for the time being!

[thomaszoo]

Were you using the HDHRs just for the locals or for some additional cable channels? The locals should still be unencrypted but may have moved to a different "channel". A rescan would tell you that. Otherwise you will need an HD-PVR. With my latest build mine has become rock solid (i.e., not a single problem!).

Good luck.

[heffneil]

I am pretty sure nothing will be unencrypted anymore!

[gplasky]

Not true. Comcast in Detroit gets me 41 channels. Locals both SD & HD and some others on the low end of the channel scale. I get 2-24 I believe. All the local HDs and Comedy Central HD

Gerry

[heffneil]

You sure about that? I said to the guy who just couldn't wrap his head around the tuners I had that if I had been using the tuner in a LCD tv I wouldn't have ABC CBS and NBC and he said not without the DTA?

Neil

[QueOnda]

Originally Posted by heffneil

You sure about that? I said to the guy who just couldn't wrap his head around the tuners I had that if I had been using the tuner in a LCD tv I wouldn't have ABC CBS and NBC and he said not without the DTA?

Neil

Most of the comcast tech I've dealt with don't know $hit. Even when I talk to phone tech, I ask questions and I get answers (wrong answers). So, one time I decided to make as many calls I could and I kept getting different answers and they contradicted each other for one straight question, I thought they could answer.

Another situation, I had a friend who ordered to HD boxes from ConCast and they hooked the HD boxes to the HD tv via rca cables (SD cables).

[jptheripper]

Originally Posted by heffneil

You sure about that? I said to the guy who just couldn't wrap his head around the tuners I had that if I had been using the tuner in a LCD tv I wouldn't have ABC CBS and NBC and he said not without the DTA?

Neil

Wow that couldnt be more wrong.

The DTA converts the (now) digital SD channels that normally require a cable box (think 80-150 or so) back to an analog signal. Thats it.

ABC NBC etc.. are still available via analog (because old ppl vote) so you can still get them without the DTA.

HD versions of ABC, NBC will not go through the DTA as it is SD only.

And all that being said, if you bypass the DTA and plug your cable directly into your LCD tv (or a tuner card in sagetv that is QAM capable) you will likely get HD versions of ABC, NBC etc.. over unecrypted QAM.

[davephan]

Comcast is dropping clearQAM. You can still use your HDHomerun for over the air digital TV. Comcast does give you two DTA converter boxes, but the quality is lousy.

I have two of the DTA boxes, one with channel 3, the other with channel 4 outputs running into a channel combiner (not a splitter), then into a HVR-2250. The quality is so lousy that it really isn't worth watching.

I think you are better off if you setup your HDHomerun for local over the air digital TV. If you still want the 'cable' channels get a HD set top box from the cable company, DirecTV or Dish Network. You'll need to make sure the set top box has component video outputs.

You could get a HD-PVR to record the HD content from the HD set top box. Although it might be better to wait for the Hauppauge Colossus.

Another option might be dropping cable, setup the HDHomerun for local over the air, and sign up for Netflix. We rarely watch any of the 'cable' channels, except premium movie channels. Netflix easily replaces the premium movie channels. We plan to drop Comcast cable TV in a few months when our contract expires.

I'm guessing its only a matter of time before Comcast clearQAM goes way in Michigan too. Comcast's bottom line probably increases when they get rid of clearQAM. After all, they need more of your money for their new NBC/Universal purchase!

Dave

[jptheripper]

can you show me where comcast is dropping clearqam? i thought they were required to carry it for locals, which is all it is useful for anyway.

the dta's over coax to my 47" is perfectly acceptable quality.

And netflix is terrible.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

can you show me where comcast is dropping clearqam? i thought they were required to carry it for locals, which is all it is useful for anyway.

the dta's over coax to my 47" is perfectly acceptable quality.

And netflix is terrible.

I think you need to check this forum. You'll find that Comcast has dropped clearQAM in many cities already. In most locations you don't need clearQAM for locals, since you can pickup local over the air HD. There's several advantages. The quality is better and the reliability is better. Cable and satellite both have more signal outages than over the air.

The video and audio output of DTA cable box is lousy compared to the video and audio output of a HD cable box.

I know many people who have Netflix, I've never heard anyone say it is terrible. The movie selection is far worse if you had all the premium movie channels instead of Netflix alone. If you checked the Netflix stock value recently? If you had, you would know that their customer base is increasing.

With Netflix, the movies start at the beginning instead of at the middle with premium channels. The premium channel movies start at the beginning if and only if you recorded them or synchronize your personal schedule to the schedule in the time table.

I think the future of television is clearly on-demand streaming video over the Internet. As bandwidth improves over time, more people will receive their content over the Internet on-demand. Over time, the customer base of cable and satellite TV will diminish.

Dave

[jptheripper]

We just have very different viewing habits. I have all my movies on my server, dont need netflix for that.

I watch tv for:
1. Live events
2. Soaps (wife)
3. News

none of which are available on netflix

OTA is a disaster here, I would need a huge antenna. 35miles and 50 miles to most stations in completley opposite directions.

I have a total of 6 clearQAM channels mapped, alll locals, and other than Comcast remapping them, they are between 90%-100% signal and completely reliable.

As for the output of the DTA, i said quality is acceptable. I.e. good enough. I dont need "the jersey shore" in HD. Actually i think i little blur makes it better !

And finally, i agree internet tv is the future, but it is very far from the present. I my choice of 1 internet provider (Comcast) and tv service is waay more reliable than their internet service.

Regardless, sorry we got this thread off topic. Comcast provides you 2 DTAs for free, check out the quality and descide for yourself. They are SD only.

Originally Posted by davephan

I think you need to check this forum. You'll find that Comcast has dropped clearQAM in many cities already. In most locations you don't need clearQAM for locals, since you can pickup local over the air HD. There's several advantages. The quality is better and the reliability is better. Cable and satellite both have more signal outages than over the air.

The video and audio output of DTA cable box is lousy compared to the video and audio output of a HD cable box.

I know many people who have Netflix, I've never heard anyone say it is terrible. The movie selection is far worse if you had all the premium movie channels instead of Netflix alone. If you checked the Netflix stock value recently? If you had, you would know that their customer base is increasing.

With Netflix, the movies start at the beginning instead of at the middle with premium channels. The premium channel movies start at the beginning if and only if you recorded them or synchronize your personal schedule to the schedule in the time table.

I think the future of television is clearly on-demand streaming video over the Internet. As bandwidth improves over time, more people will receive their content over the Internet on-demand. Over time, the customer base of cable and satellite TV will diminish.

Dave

[davephan]

We do watch different shows. We used to watch more cable news shows and a few others, but more recently we watch only local over the air (mostly network and local news) and Netflix movies.

Florida is pretty flat. That's surprising that digital TV can't be received with a rooftop antenna, or maybe two separate antennas for each direction. I'm about 13 miles from the 1,400 foot television broadcasting towers. A rooftop UHF only works good for all the local channels here.

Periodically, the cable system has it's outages. When we were on satellite, 'rain events' took out the signal at times. Local over the air HD TV is far more reliable, and better quality too.

Dave

[blade]

Originally Posted by davephan

I think you need to check this forum. You'll find that Comcast has dropped clearQAM in many cities already. In most locations you don't need clearQAM for locals, since you can pickup local over the air HD. There's several advantages. The quality is better and the reliability is better. Cable and satellite both have more signal outages than over the air.

I check the forums daily and I don't recall reading where Comcast is dropping in the clear locals. I know when they got approval to use the encryption capabilities of the DTAs they started encrypting a lot of channels that people had been getting in the clear, which makes sense.

Also saying that most locations can get OTA and that it's more reliable isn't really true. Many people may be able to get OTA because towers are typically located near highly populated areas; however, the range is pretty limited so geographically there are many locations that either get no or very few OTA channels.

For example my mother-in-law lives around 60 miles from Nashville (nearest towers) and she gets a whopping 4 channels 2 of which regularly go out for hours at a time due to a weak signal. I agree if you live closer to the towers the reliability is much better; however, many people don't live near the towers. I live in another state and I'm also +60 miles from the nearest towers. I could drop several hundred dollars on a quality antenna, wiring, signal amp and installation (I usually do my own handy work, but installing an antenna on a 2 story house is not something I'm going to do). I'd rather just get my locals through Comcast, especially since I still get a handful of others channels such as Nick and Disn. All together I'm getting around 10 channels that I actually use and 28 total though some are SD versions of my locals.

[jptheripper]

Yeah my problem is not topography, but distance, and the "you arent putting an ugly antenna on the outside of our house" factor .

I would love to drop cable if i had an alternative for internet (my internet would jump to $60 a month if i drop cable tv). Right now its just not worth it.

Dropping clearqam will make the decision much easier.

[ranger]

Comcast is not dropping Clear QAM for locals and basic channels in my area. We were converted to the digital adapters about 8 months ago and I still receive 54 channels in clear QAM, but I only use about 30 of them. My HDHR still receives locals and about 10 other stations in HD.

Agreed that the broadcast is typically a better quality signal, and I still use it from time to time.

[sTVb]

Comcast is required to carry locals unencrypted, although the policy does not specify SD vs HD. Still, I haven't heard of anywhere lately where they are encrypting any of the locals.

Comcast will generally give you 1 SD box instead of a DTA if you request at no charge (they want to give you access to OnDemand). Quality was marginally better from the SD box for me, but channel changing was MUCH more reliable.

[jhkoenig]

In the San Francisco bay area, Comcast now encrypts all of the non-OTA signals but style sends that OTA channels in HD and SD. So my SiliconDust tuners are relegated the 4 locals and I have two DTAs feeding SD capture cards, driven by USB-UIRTs. Clunky but amazingly stable. Once and a while I have a conflict because of only two "cable" channel captures, but it works. Once SiliconDust has the cable-card tuners out, I can hope that SageTV gets support for copy-freely captures. Fingers crossed!