Travelfan1
RIP Analog Go Digital
join:2005-08-23
Iselin, NJ
 ·Comcast
| reply to sansri88
Re: Comcast Analog Migration
said by sansri88  :Alright thanks. I've shot out an email to our region's marketing department to find out more. Do you still waste your time with NJ II Marketing Depto? I have ZERO faith or trust on them.
--
COMpressionCAST of New Jersey II(Union)
Verizon DSL
And who would think Eli would outplay Brady... |
|
JeepMatt
Delaware Fios
Premium
join:2001-12-28
Wilmington, DE | Rumors were of something along this line occurring for Philly Metro as well - but info has been pretty tight lipped.
Any peeps out there with any info, please share.
--
"ONE team - ONE city - ONE dream!!" |
|
neufuse
join:2006-12-06
Indiana, PA | reply to BSD24
Unless has a built in DTV tuner? huh? You mean QAM / ATSC tuner or what? Because every channel comcast has moved to digital here is ENCRYPTED! which is BS when you had it unencrypted in analog FOREVER! |
|
BSD24
Tier 4
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Middleboro, MA
clubs: | reply to BSD24
Yea guys - it only will have your zip in the system if your area has a plan for when they will be doing the migration. If you have Comcast and your zip doesn't work, that means that most likely your migration isn't scheduled yet. |
|
BSD24
Tier 4
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Middleboro, MA
clubs:
·Comcast
 ·Verizon FIOS
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to neufuse
said by neufuse :Unless has a built in DTV tuner? huh? You mean QAM / ATSC tuner or what? Because every channel comcast has moved to digital here is ENCRYPTED! which is BS when you had it unencrypted in analog FOREVER! A tv that has a Built-In Digital TV (AKA DTV) tuner it says so when you go to buy one. It usually is also symbolized on the TV front panel by saying "Digital Tuner Built-In" or "DTV Ready", etc.... If you still can't tell if your TV is "DTV Ready" or "DTV Built-In", get the model number from the back of the TV and call the manufacturer. |
|
BSD24
Tier 4
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Middleboro, MA
clubs: | If anyone needs a phone number for their Manufacturer, please post and I will get the number for you as soon as I have the chance. |
|
pgoelz
join:2001-12-26
Rochester, MI
2 edits | reply to neufuse
I know customers made a big stink when Comcast moved a few analogs in our area recently. It's because of this big stink and negative press from local news and TV reporters that they are going to be very careful in doing the next moves. Will it happen any time soon? Most likely not, as they want to limit the amount of negative press that they get.
It sucks, because these customers don't understand the benefits of going digital. That advantage is tempered by the added cost of a STB for every TV. In my case with five TVs, that adds up to a negative, not a positive.
Paul |
|
neufuse
join:2006-12-06
Indiana, PA | reply to BSD24
All our TV's are DTV (aka has QAM tuners and ATSC tuners) but all the analogs that comcast has moved to digital are encrypted which does not play well with a TV that has no built in decrypting scheme (aka cablecard) |
|
BSD24
Tier 4
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Middleboro, MA
clubs:
·Comcast
·Verizon FIOS
·Verizon Online DSL
| said by neufuse :All our TV's are DTV (aka has QAM tuners and ATSC tuners) but all the analogs that comcast has moved to digital are encrypted which does not play well with a TV that has no built in decrypting scheme (aka cablecard) Some locations require cable boxes for certain technical reasons. That is the situation for the Metro-Boston region as well, they still require cable boxes for expanded basic. So you are not the only one. |
|
neufuse
join:2006-12-06
Indiana, PA | Expanded basic cable with a box still? wow... we haven't had a box for channels over 20 something for almost 20yrs now here |
|
cypherstream
Looking forward to the future of things.
Premium,MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
clubs:
| said by neufuse :Expanded basic cable with a box still? wow... we haven't had a box for channels over 20 something for almost 20yrs now here Some area's, to help deture theft, have scrambled expanded basic. Center City Philly, and Baltimore are two area's that I can think of. In these markets, Bandwidth reclamation should be rather easy. Customers are already used to having a box connected to their TV. It's just a matter of switching the analog box for a digital box.
If everythings scrambled, a thief connecting themselves to an open tap port, or illegally splitting into someone else's line, has much less to steal. |
|
BSD24
Tier 4
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Middleboro, MA
clubs:
·Comcast
·Verizon FIOS
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to pgoelz
said by pgoelz :I know customers made a big stink when Comcast moved a few analogs in our area recently. It's because of this big stink and negative press from local news and TV reporters that they are going to be very careful in doing the next moves. Will it happen any time soon? Most likely not, as they want to limit the amount of negative press that they get.
It sucks, because these customers don't understand the benefits of going digital. That advantage is tempered by the added cost of a STB for every TV. In my case with five TVs, that adds up to a negative, not a positive. Paul pgoelz - Just so you know changes are going to be continuing to happen. The FCC also said that people will be able to buy Cable Boxes soon. You will eventually be able to buy these cable boxes from retailers like Best Buy, Circuit City as well as the cable companies will eventually allow you to purchase the equipment from them. Similar to the reason people are allowed to buy their own cable-modems.
Tivo already has a cable-box type being sold that requires cable cards. This is how cable-boxes will be sold and why the new cable boxes are called Host-Boxes. The box will have 1-2 slots for cablecards to be used. This way when people buy the cable-box and they move to an area outside of their present cable provider (like a Comcast customer moving to a town that has Cox or Charter) to another provider, they can return the cable cards to Comcast and get new ones to the new cable provider put them in the box and it would work on that new system.
Be patient, and as time goes on many changes will be happening to cable customers across the country. Some people may change things quicker then others. |
|
BSD24
Tier 4
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Middleboro, MA
clubs:
·Comcast
·Verizon FIOS
·Verizon Online DSL
| An example of a Host-Box that Motorola makes is the DCH3416 and DCH6412. DCT is Digital Cable Terminal, and DCH is Digital Cable Host. So if your model Motorola box is a "DCH" then you will find a cablecard slot in the back that has a card already in it.
Currently they should be secured - although a few customers have called in saying they removed it and couldn't understand why they lost all their channels! LOL - but this happens, people sometimes remove things for no reason then they call cause the device/service doesn't work. |
|
neufuse
join:2006-12-06
Indiana, PA
·Comcast
| reply to BSD24
Wonder how well it will work though with the your provide the encryption scheme boxes (HDC boxes?) when the tech changes so fast anymore.. heck now everyones scared about SDV with things like tivo... and the big add on boxes they will need (well not that big, but you have to get them from the cable co.. and probably rent them too) |
|
BSD24
Tier 4
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Middleboro, MA
clubs:
·Comcast
·Verizon FIOS
·Verizon Online DSL
| said by neufuse :Wonder how well it will work though with the your provide the encryption scheme boxes (HDC boxes?) when the tech changes so fast anymore.. heck now everyones scared about SDV with things like tivo... and the big add on boxes they will need (well not that big, but you have to get them from the cable co.. and probably rent them too) Yes you still have to rent cable-cards. It is cheaper than the box cost per month. Probably (if not already) there will be cable cards sold at stores, maybe customers will be able to bring it to a provider to program it, but maybe I am getting too ahead of technology. But anything to save money would be nice for everyone. |
|
JohnInSJ
Premium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA
·Comcast
| reply to BSD24
I believe that money saving device is called "Dish-TV"
When the analogs go dark for me, Comcast loses a customer. Unless they make them clear QAM. We should check to see if hell freezes over as well...
I am ok with it either way, and I'm sure they won't miss my nearly $1000/year for expanded-digital+HD.
--
My place : »www.schettino.us |
|
ak3883
join:2005-08-20
Bensalem, PA
| reply to JeepMatt
wbub reported it was going to be happening in late June timeframe, a different system each week or something. He said my system in Lower Bucks was happening around June 29th(or so, can't remember the exact date), a total rebuild of analog channels, re-lining up physical channel locations to optimize for future services like more HD, DOCSIS3.0, etc. I'm assuming this was what he was referring to. |
|
cypherstream
Looking forward to the future of things.
Premium,MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
clubs:
1 edit | reply to BSD24
said by BSD24 :
Yes you still have to rent cable-cards. It is cheaper than the box cost per month. Probably (if not already) there will be cable cards sold at stores, maybe customers will be able to bring it to a provider to program it, but maybe I am getting too ahead of technology. But anything to save money would be nice for everyone. I seriously do not ever see cable cards being SOLD directly to the consumer, especially through a retail outlet like Bestbuy or Walmart. Why? While I'm sure people will assume it's just because "the MSO's are greedy and want their money!", the reality is that the encryption method used by those cable-cards (or even older non-cablecard boxes) work on a public/private key method. Pretty much, that means that the MSO has go back to CISCO/SA or Moto to get the proper keys loaded onto their systems so that they can properly authorize the cards and the card then knows how to decrypt the MPEG streams. The simple logistics of a bunch of one-off cards being brought to the MSO and requested to be added to the system are staggering. Not to mention the problems in creating a whole new internal infrastructure for Customer Service to get the information from the customer, then routing it to people responsible for the controllers make the request of the vendor (Moto or Cisco) who then respond back to the controller admins, who have to then load the 1 or 2 cards manually, then send them off to be added to the billing system's backend for the appropriate corp so that billing knows where the card is how to route the hits and authorizations back to the card.
And all this doesn't even touch upon the other problems with security. (Which go beyond just the MSO's desire to make sure you only get what you pay for, but also into contracts with content providers and the promises the MSO must make to them regarding the security of their product.) |
|
patspub
join:2005-02-10
Philadelphia, PA | reply to ak3883
I remember Wbub saying that the channel migration will happen for Philly on June 23rd so maybe on May 23rd the zip code will work for Philly zip codes. Wbub you out there??? |
|
fuziwuzi
Not born yesterday
Premium
join:2005-07-01
Atlanta, GA
| reply to BSD24
Comcast's decision to encrypt nearly all of the digital channels is not related to "theft", at least if it was then they're not being consistent about it. Here we have the analog channels 1-72 which are NOT encrypted or scrambled. That is our "expanded basic", which is what I get, and my TVs and TiVO receive them all just fine. However, our system has already been transitioned to a digital simulcast, meaning all those channels are sent digitally as well, and my TV that has a QAM tuner is only able to get clear access to the few "local broadcast" channels, everything else is not available. If I switch it to analog, the channels are all there. If there was such a problem with theft, then wouldn't Comcast have been requiring STBs for all the analog channels as well?
To me it is simply another example of corporate greed. They want another fee they can tack on to your bill each month. |
|
