pgoelz
join:2001-12-26
Rochester, MI
| Any digital channels on the B cable in Detroit?
Just wondering if there are any hiding on the B cable. I'm in Oakland County and we have a two cable system. I find digital channels on the A cable but not on the B cable. However, I have a 400MHz amplified splitter between the B cable and the set so channels above 400MHz could be attenuated enough to disappear.
I ask because there aren't any more digital channels available on the A cable in the clear that are anything I want to watch. The last one was the Science Channel (available for a month or so) but it just disappeared. So I have reluctantly reconnected to the B cable and am watching analog TV again. It really REALLY irks me to have to rent a STB to watch digital cable. If the day comes when we need to switch to entirely digital, I will have to look seriously at the other alternatives in the area (WOW, Dish and Direct).
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Paul Goelz, Rochester Hills, MI
Model Helicopter, music and astronomy pages:
http://pgoelz.com |
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jmallory
join:2005-11-02
Clawson, MI
| said by pgoelz  :Just wondering if there are any hiding on the B cable. I'm in Oakland County and we have a two cable system. I find digital channels on the A cable but not on the B cable. However, I have a 400MHz amplified splitter between the B cable and the set so channels above 400MHz could be attenuated enough to disappear. I ask because there aren't any more digital channels available on the A cable in the clear that are anything I want to watch. The last one was the Science Channel (available for a month or so) but it just disappeared. So I have reluctantly reconnected to the B cable and am watching analog TV again. It really REALLY irks me to have to rent a STB to watch digital cable. If the day comes when we need to switch to entirely digital, I will have to look seriously at the other alternatives in the area (WOW, Dish and Direct). There is no digital on the B cable, just analog. There are only about a half-dozen or so analog channels left on the A cable (WTVS, TVO, and the PEG channels).
You are going to need an STB to watch digital regardless of who you pick...WOW, DBS, or U-verse. |
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pgoelz
join:2001-12-26
Rochester, MI
edit:
May 6th, @12:44PM
| reply to pgoelz
What a shame. Presently, we have five TVs in the house, all connected to the B cable without boxes. Two of them are not watched very often but they do get used once in a while. A third is a digital set with QAM. Forcing me to pay for a STB for all those TVs is a serious barrier to me migrating to digital. And jettisoning a couple of them would be a real step backwards. I see absolutely no reason (other than greed) to encrypt the digital basic cable channels. The same ones we get on the B cable without a STB.
I'm assuming that because we are a two cable system and analog is not competing with digital for bandwidth, it might be longer than in a single cable system before they turn off analog altogether. But when that day arrives, I will not be a happy camper.
Has anyone heard of Comcast offering several free STBs for additional TVs as an enticement to go digital? I would be willing to pay for one STB/DVR but it would stick in my craw forever if I had to rent additional STBs for the other four TVs.
FWIW, I Emailed Comcast some time ago about this and never got a response. Not even a "thanks for your input".
Ah, an idea just occurred to me..... does anyone make a digital remodulator? I could possibly see renting one additional box and distributing its output to the other TVs in the house via QAM over the existing cable. With some of those I/R extender modules, you could control it from anywhere in the house. All TVs on that box would have to watch the same channel, but there are only two of us.
Paul
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Paul Goelz, Rochester Hills, MI
Model Helicopter, music and astronomy pages:
http://pgoelz.com |
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Bill_MI
Bill In Michigan
Premium,MVM
join:2001-01-03
Royal Oak, MI
 ·EarthLink
| I found it depends who you talk to how Cable B will evolve. It ranges from Feb 2009 to 2012 (but I get the impression the unique nature of Cable B we have is unknown to the rep in many cases so they just make something up consistent with something they think they know all about).
My own take on this...
Hardly anyone mentions how STBs have the ability to take and supply the cable company with viewing data, thus, they should pay US to use them to supply them with such valuable data. Pushing them has more reasons than rental revenue. |
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imrf
Premium
join:2002-06-06
Utica, MI
 ·WOW Internet and C..
| said by Bill_MI :I found it depends who you talk to how Cable B will evolve. Comcast is rebuilding that whole network. You will eventually be a single line system like the one in Sterling Heights. They're starting with norther Oakland county first, then working their way back. |
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Bill_MI
Bill In Michigan
Premium,MVM
join:2001-01-03
Royal Oak, MI
·EarthLink
| said by imrf :Comcast is rebuilding that whole network. You will eventually be a single line system like the one in Sterling Heights. They're starting with norther Oakland county first, then working their way back. Any time frame?
We just had a major equipment upgrade of some kind in March. Cable A (includes HSI) was down over 50 hours across 6 outages 3/10 to 4/1. Cable B never burped.  |
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imrf
Premium
join:2002-06-06
Utica, MI | No idea. It was started late last year. I'd expect it to take another year, maybe more. |
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pgoelz
join:2001-12-26
Rochester, MI
edit:
May 8th, @02:08PM
| reply to pgoelz
To drift a bit back to the gist of my original post..... why aren't more people here up in arms over being eventually forced to rent a box for every TV in the house? Why is't everyone writing Comcast? Am I the only one who feels raped? Or do most of you just have one TV connected to cable?
Granted, the "rape" hasn't happened yet.... I can continue to watch analog TV until they finally turn it off. Then I WILL be pi$$ed. But when that day arrives, it will be too late to change things by writing them. Doesn't one of the satellite providers offer three rooms for the price of one? That would be very enticing.
Paul
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Paul Goelz, Rochester Hills, MI
Model Helicopter, music and astronomy pages:
http://pgoelz.com |
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