The "Joy" of Comcast degrading technology

[jimmy4218]

Yep- it's the same in Duluth. We have Charter communications as far as cable goes but you can pick from all of the dish companies you want. Luckily Charter has been really good to deal with and I actually like them as a provider. Go figure lol! I hope someday that you'll be able to go with someone else- not being able to choose one company over the other definately has it's disadvantages! No competition= bad service( typically).

[MarkG]

I guess I just don't get it....Are you saying they are trying to feed you HD channels over an analog system???? How can you even have 1982 technology on a digital cable system????? Did not exist in 1982. None of that stuff should even work now. To my knowledge all of that stuff by now should be in the dumpster.

If you are paying for digital HD cable service the Cable Box should have an HDMI output or if an old version at least a DVI output. Should not need any switching boxes to see local HD channels,should be available right on the digital box. ,or if want to bypass the box,should be right on the digital cable you can attach directly to the internal ATSC tuner on the TV. If DIGITAL cable service is in the house,should not even need a box to get the LOCAL HD channels using an ATSC tuner. They are "locals" and should be part of even a BASIC current cable service.

[Apple Guy]

I am using 1982 as a statement to how they are dishing out bad 2010 technology. Yes, I can get the HD cable box, but with 4 boxes that is close to $40 extra. I am getting HD local now and basic cable plus. Then I have the HDTV package that works just fine with my TiVo XL. I have to pay $4.00 extra for 2 of the 5 so called boxes. The cable card is considered a box. To get HD on local channels I have to do a mickey mouse AB switch with the cheap boxes. This is my point right here. A 30 billion dollar corporation can't build in an electronic AB switch when they are buying tens of million of these Cisco boxes. FAIL!! That is 1982 technology. Almost everyone I know has an HDTV and if they don't want to buy comcast's high end box, you get a 1982 manual AB Switch with a splitter mess. Every time I want to watch local TV in HD I have to flip a switch and flip it back. Build it right. It's almost 2011 and with a massive change over they shell out 1982 technology to save $1.00 per unit.

Remember, EVERYTHING is encrypted now with this new move. You only get channels 2-23 unencrypted. You need a direct cable line for the unencrypted feed to work. You have to bypass the Cisco encryption box with the AB switch to get local HD. Local HD won't flow through the Cisco box as I was told. I have not yet installed any of these so I don't know for sure if this is true, I am relying on what was told to me by comcast is the truth for now.


Maybe the comcast top 3000 can all go back to pagers, because "that is just good enough" and "it still works!" Why would they whine, everything still works..........


.

[tzonetom]

I got rid of both dish and cable can't say I miss it. I've found things to do like....fish somemore, hunt some more, play baseball/football/bike with the kids. Can't say I miss it at all really.

[tzonetom]

Originally Posted by iMac Guy

Remember, EVERYTHING is encrypted now with this new move. You only get channels 2-23 unencrypted. You need a direct cable line for the unencrypted feed to work. You have to bypass the Cisco encryption box with the AB switch to get local HD. Local HD won't flow through the Cisco box as I was told. I have not yet installed any of these so I don't know for sure if this is true, I am relying on what was told to me by comcast is the truth for now.




.

I guess I don't get how you can't get local HD. I have them.

[MarkG]

Originally Posted by iMac Guy

I am using 1982 as a statement to how they are dishing out bad 2010 technology. Yes, I can get the HD cable box, but with 4 boxes that is close to $40 extra. I am getting HD local now and basic cable plus. Then I have the HDTV package that works just fine with my TiVo XL. I have to pay $4.00 extra for 2 of the 5 so called boxes. The cable card is considered a box. To get HD on local channels I have to do a mickey mouse AB switch with the cheap boxes. This is my point right here. A 30 billion dollar corporation can't build in an electronic AB switch when they are buying tens of million of these Cisco boxes. FAIL!! That is 1982 technology. Almost everyone I know has an HDTV and if they don't want to buy comcast's high end box, you get a 1982 manual AB Switch with a splitter mess. Every time I want to watch local TV in HD I have to flip a switch and flip it back. Build it right. It's almost 2011 and with a massive change over they shell out 1982 technology to save $1.00 per unit.

Remember, EVERYTHING is encrypted now with this new move. You only get channels 2-23 unencrypted. You need a direct cable line for the unencrypted feed to work. You have to bypass the Cisco encryption box with the AB switch to get local HD. Local HD won't flow through the Cisco box as I was told. I have not yet installed any of these so I don't know for sure if this is true, I am relying on what was told to me by comcast is the truth for now.


Maybe the comcast top 3000 can all go back to pagers, because "that is just good enough" and "it still works!" Why would they whine, everything still works..........


.

Assuming there is no encryption on your local HD channels via cable,that even allows a bypass of the box to work,You still should not need to use an A/B switch. Are you sure the splitters they gave you won't work? What do they normally use for multiple room digital service and modem installations? All you would need is the correct splitter and a couple of short additional lengths of coax cable (probably RG6) from the splitter ,one to the cable box,the other directly to the coax ATSC tuner input of the TV. Then to bypass the box,simply switch the TV input via the TV remote.

Not sure about the Ciscos but there are some boxes that do an auto pass through. When the box was turned off,the output coax port does a signal pass through. That would have been the easiest way. Even the cheap broadcast digital converter boxes did that.

Digital splitters they likely are using would be something like these:
http://www.cencom94.com/gpage.html

[Apple Guy]

Originally Posted by tzonetom

I guess I don't get how you can't get local HD. I have them.

The low end box is not HD/720p it is just 480p. You need to bypass low end box to get local HD through direct cable that is using the cable as an antenna. I was told there is no local digital HD feed, you are using the cable as an antenna. Local HD will be feed encrypted to people with a HD box though. I am not paying an extra $40 more on top of the $130-140 to comcast. It just is not happening. They already have my second child!

[Apple Guy]

Originally Posted by MarkG

Assuming there is no encryption on your local HD channels via cable,that even allows a bypass of the box to work,You still should not need to use an A/B switch. Are you sure the splitters they gave you won't work? What do they normally use for multiple room digital service and modem installations? All you would need is the correct splitter and a couple of short additional lengths of coax cable (probably RG6) from the splitter ,one to the cable box,the other directly to the coax ATSC tuner input of the TV. Then to bypass the box,simply switch the TV input via the TV remote.

Not sure about the Ciscos but there are some boxes that do an auto pass through. When the box was turned off,the output coax port does a signal pass through. That would have been the easiest way. Even the cheap broadcast digital converter boxes did that.

Digital splitters they likely are using would be something like these:
http://www.cencom94.com/gpage.html

Yep, those splitters. Like I said, I need to get some time to install these. They want all or nothing, so I can't just install one.


I have talked to 3 different people with one guy that knew his stuff and this is what they all told me what to do. So I am going by what 3 people said, with one I have trust in. They have boxes of AB switches so they are planning on giving a lot of them away. So that tells me the way they told me how to do it is the right way as per their cheap crap boxes. We will see........

Doing jamb extensions and window trim is at a higher priority right now over the TVs.

.