Comcast: All digital in 20% of markets by year's end

[Sparhawk6]

And in all markets by 2010. Looks like two of my three tuners are obsolete...very soon...

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/product...-digital_N.htm

[mikesm]

This is great news... As part of this, they are turning crypto off on all their expanded basic channels sent via ADS so they can use these cheap DTA's that have no cablecard builtin to them.

So your clear QAM tuner card should be able to do everything the analog tuners could, but without encoding.

[Sparhawk6]

Originally Posted by mikesm

This is great news... As part of this, they are turning crypto off on all their expanded basic channels sent via ADS so they can use these cheap DTA's that have no cablecard builtin to them.

So your clear QAM tuner card should be able to do everything the analog tuners could, but without encoding.

Oh really? I guess that makes me feel better...but my two analog tuners are very sad puppies.

[QueOnda]

Originally Posted by mikesm

This is great news... As part of this, they are turning crypto off on all their expanded basic channels sent via ADS so they can use these cheap DTA's that have no cablecard builtin to them.

So your clear QAM tuner card should be able to do everything the analog tuners could, but without encoding.

Are you sure? IMHO, Comcast don't want you to use QAM tuners on your TV, they want you to rent a box. More revenue for them.

[Sparhawk6]

Originally Posted by QueOnda

Are you sure? IMHO, Comcast don't want you to use QAM tuners on your TV, they want you to rent a box. More revenue for them.

Well the FCC will force them to provide you will a free converter box if they do ditch analog altogether, so it probably won't even be worth it to them to continue to encrypt all digital channels besides network.

[Tiki]

Comcast already made this switch by me last year. Only the most basic channels are still available via analog with no STB (channels 2-21). This includes Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, CW, several PBS channels, community access, QVC, HSN, iON, and WGN.

Of course you can still use your analog capture cards (ie PVR-150) with a set-top-box and an IR blaster. The picture quality has improved since they did this, but the reliability of the IR is not 100% (I occasionally end up recording the wrong channel).

I have not tried a QAM tuner yet to see which channels are available un-encrypted. I've been tempted to pick-up an HDHomerun, but I am worried that it may only be able to record the digital versions of the same 20 channels I am getting in analog (I would be really disappointed if everything else were encrypted).

[Deacon Crusher]

If Comcast does this and we do suddenly have access to more QAM channels look out for this issue.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33645

Living in interesting times <G>.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by mikesm

This is great news... As part of this, they are turning crypto off on all their expanded basic channels sent via ADS so they can use these cheap DTA's that have no cablecard builtin to them.

If that's true, then that's great news. I know I saw a post on avs about it, but I haven't seen anything from a more reputable source. Have you heard anything more specific?

Comcast don't want you to use QAM tuners on your TV, they want you to rent a box. More revenue for them.

I'm not sure that's true. HD boxes are sort of expensive, and when they break they have to send someone how to look at it. I don't doubt they make the cable company money in the long run, but I'm not sure it's as much as some people may think.

The cable companies must realize that one of their big advantages over satellite is not needing a box on each TV. At the same time, maybe they figure anyone with the cash to buy an HDTV with QAM won't mind shelling out the money for a box (and anyone sitting around with an old SDTV will need a box anyway).

Well the FCC will force them to provide you will a free converter box if they do ditch analog altogether, so it probably won't even be worth it to them to continue to encrypt all digital channels besides network.

Actually, I looked for all the information I could find on that FCC mandate and I didn't see anything that suggested that the box had to be free (which would really just be an accounting trick anyway, since companies would just increase their regular cable rates to include the cost of a cable box). Based on that, I couldn't figure out what the purpose of the mandate was at all.

[hemicuda]

Just for giggles I just did a rescan on my HDHR. Seems Comcast has opened up (for now at least) more than 50 QAM SD channels. Looks like a mirror of the analog channels 2-96. This really stinks thanks to the 68 remap limit in the BDA drivers. If they keep them open I'll have to start investing in QAM cards and such. It could just be a "free"-view due to the transition of a few channels earlier this week.

Here's hoping the QAM stays clear.

[sainswor99]

for those of you who own a HDHomeRun and live in a Comcast market, can you do as hemicuda has done and see if more channels are available in your area? So far, Comcast has not made the transition here in the Atlanta area, but I assume it will be coming soon.

Also, can you look and see if the TV channel availability is accurate at http://www.silicondust.com/wiki/hdhomerun/channels ? I'm just curious if they can keep up with all the changes.

Thanks,
Stu

[QueOnda]

I just did a scan today and no new channels. I'm Crapcast in the Sacramento/Modesto/Stockton market.

[evilpenguin]

God, i'd love it if TV manufacturers/Cable Companies would start embracing Clear QAM as the new "Cable Ready". I think that's win/win for everybody.

[AMCooper63]

Hayward, CA. I checked my QAM and I've probably got 50 channels and a 100 music channels. but they are crappy. They are 4x3 and poor quality. Even what I have OTA in 16x9 is 4x3 via cable. Also, nothing is labeled so I can't tell which channel is which without studying them and remapping them. Then I think some change. I'm suspecting that some of them might be their On-Demand programming. I just know that in the short time I tried it I was able to get some R rated (topless) stuff on some of the unmarked QAM channels.

So how do I get an EPG that matches these new channels?

[hemicuda]

Originally Posted by sainswor99

Also, can you look and see if the TV channel availability is accurate at [snip] ? I'm just curious if they can keep up with all the changes.
Stu

I can say for sure that it wasn't correct for my zip last night. At least what was listed in the Setup app when I did the scan. half of them didn't even have a channel ID. I'm going to try to use the TV to identify the open channels and will submit my findings to silicon. They still list a VOD channel w/ a network callsign after I sent in a list of the VOD channels last yr.

[m1abrams]

I am on comcast in Prince William County, VA. I have not done a recan in a few weeks, however I have consistently seen comcast send out unencrypted channels like ESPNHD and AETVHD after adding new channels. However every time they do this they end up encrypting them a few weeks later.

I will do a rescan this weekend see if anything has changed.

[Taddeusz]

I wonder what Cox Cable is going to do with their transition to all digital? Right now everything is encrypted except the locals. It would be nice if they provided all their basic channels in the clear. I'm not holding my breath though. At least for Cox Cable I think keeping everything encrypted is a way to push people towards renting their DVR STB's. Which I can't stand. The Scientific Atlanta DVR interface is just mind numbing to me. Maybe I've just gotten too used to SageTV to appreciate it.

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by hemicuda

Just for giggles I just did a rescan on my HDHR. Seems Crapcast has opened up (for now at least) more than 50 QAM SD channels. Looks like a mirror of the analog channels 2-96. This really stinks thanks to the 68 remap limit in the BDA drivers. If they keep them open I'll have to start investing in QAM cards and such. It could just be a "free"-view due to the transition of a few channels earlier this week.

Here's hoping the QAM stays clear.

What market are you in? This is consistent with their plans for rolloing out DTA's. As for sources, I know folks back in Philly and am familiar with the DTA program. There is just no way for them to afford going all digital without a cheap box, and there is no cheap box that has cablecard in it ( because of all the crap that cablelabs mandated for equipment that cablecard plugs in to).

So, to convert folks off analog, they have to make expanded basic clear to use the new boxes. It also means your builtin QAM tuners in TV's will work too. I suggested to my friend that they insert the appropriate PSIP data for the SD channels so that TV's will have an easier time of mapping the channels and providing program info.

[thomaszoo]

I agree that the cable companies are being short-sighted by forcing their customers to rent STBs. I currently have Comcast and will probably be switching to Dish before the summer is over.

I recently called in to discuss with a CSR my disatisfaction with the rates and lack of some HD channels here in Sacramento. What I got was about a $20 break for 6 months and the Starz channel thrown in for free. But when I look at $70+ for my cable service with one HD STB vs $30 for Dish HD with 2 STBs and all the HD channels I want (I currently get my locals OTA and that wouldn't change) I just feel like I am being ripped off. And I think it is time to sell my Comcast stock (I thought they had the right vision at one time, but no longer feel that way). The HD PVR makes it easy for me to change at this point.

Wayne

[Sparhawk6]

It's shocking that this isn't being discussed more. I would venture to say that about 50% of SageTV's customers' setups will be ruined by Comcast's total transition to Digital TV with our current hardware setups and with the current version of the Sage software. Where's the outrage? The discussion of solutions?

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by Sparhawk6

It's shocking that this isn't being discussed more. I would venture to say that about 50% of SageTV's customers' setups will be ruined by Comcast's total transition to Digital TV with our current hardware setups and with the current version of the Sage software. Where's the outrage? The discussion of solutions?

The solution is called the HD-PVR.