Comcast XFINITY TV → Comcast HD in Reading, PA

Thanks a lot!

If they didn't move any analogs, then I really wonder where the heck they put the new channel. We were maxed out!

Maybe they did find room on channel 119? Who knows, we were up to channel 118, but the performance was good. Strong signal, good SNR... I've seen 750 MHz systems push up to Ch 121 tops. Heck Williamsport is testing their 750 MHz system out to ch 120.

Unless they remuxed things a bit. I know TBS HD was sitting all by itself on channel 55. They could of moved that where Starz HD used to sit (remember Starz moved to a 3:1 mux a few months back). That would of freed up channel 55 for a new 3:1 mux.

There's a number of solutions. I don't have a slingbox, so I won't know until I get home. Not sure when that will be either. There's a lot going on this afternoon. We'll see.

I don't know what the plan is for new HD's, but I do know that Comcast likes to TRY and keep channel placement pretty common across their different systems, so we'll see.

One thing I noticed was that someone mentioned back on page 2 of this thread about SA systems on-demand remote button tuning to channel 199, so it's likely you won't see any HD placed there because of that SA system setup. (too many remotes out in the field in SA systems that tune to that channel for On-Demand, and too many customers who would potentially call to complain that VOD is broke when instead of getting VoD when they push the ondemand button, they get BioHD.)

Here's the scoop on Scranton:
193- FX HD
196- Fox News HD
197- Speed HD
C-Span 2 is still on analog channel 59 and style is still on analog 99 along with digital 99 and 118. Oh yeah, Versus is on 206 and Golf on 207. I hope the rumours are true, bring on more HD, 36 channels is still not enough!

thanx for the early Christmas present Comcast..such a nice addition, why the sneak attack Comcast? FNC looks great. Also wondering how they made the room for it.

You would think Comcast would promote the hell out of any HD additions considering the hammering they get for the lack of HD compared to Direct TV or FIOS

Lebanon Comcast also got them today.

SPEED HD looks great. Best Channel added since Sci-Fi HD

We now have 36 or 37 HD Channels here in Lebanon Pa. Comcast...

191 - B10HD
193 - FXHD
194 - SCIHD
195 - FAMHD
196 - FNCHD
197 - SPDHD
200 - CSNHD
201 - SPORTSHD Overflow * Very limited mapped and used Channel.
202 - ESPN-HD
203 - ESPN2-HD
204 - TNTHD
205 - HDT
206 - VRSHD
207 - GOLF-HD
208 - UHD
210 - NGCHD
211 - A&EHD
213 - HGTVHD
215 - HBOHD
216 - FOOD HD
218 - NFLHD
219 - MAXHD
220 - TBSHD
222 - USAHD
223 - SHOHD
224 - DSCHD
225 - TLC HD
226 - SFHD
227 - STZ1 HD
229 - PLDHD
231 - ABC Local HD
232 - NBC Local HD
233 - CBS Local HD
234 - FOX Local HD
236 - CW Local HD
239 - DISHD
240 - PBS Local HD

scanpa,

What do they use the SportsHD overflow (201) for up there in Lebanon?

We don't have that down the street here in Reading...or the Big Ten Network in HD!!

Seriously, though, do they show Baltimore market sports on that?

With those two exceptions, everything is the same here...

I think while they are required to give 30days notice on any changes, they can get away with no notice on "Free Previews". I've seen in the past where they have snuck new channels on before the notice is officially given by calling it a free preview during that 30 day period.

As for why the sneak attack? Could be that they just got all the contracts, approvals, and technical stuff (bandwidth, channel placements, QAMs, etc) in place recently and wanted to get them on the air as quickly as possible, even if marketting hadn't had a chance yet to put together the official notice and get it placed in all the local papers.

In my opinion, no advanced warning is fine by me if it means we get more channels sooner.

Over 2 years I have only picked up 3 or so sports events in HD on it. Most of the time it is not even Mapped to the STB's... right now it is just a black screen.

thats why I listed 36 or 37 HD channels.

Yeah, I'd rather have a sneak attack then to sit around and wait all day for marketing!

After all, that's what these forums are for!

Kudo's to the engineers who made it all possible! Keep it up, and we will be very pleased. If they have the bandwidth, contracts and equipment to do it, then just do it. Why sit around and wait for marketing's slow ass!

I'll try and figure out where they placed them. It's mostly central pa wide, so could be some change in the muxes along with new channel maps built. Remember we had some mixtures of 1HD/multiple SD muxes. Then some moved to 3:1 HD muxes, so there's room from shifting. It is possible they got a jump start on 15:1 ADS muxing. That would make 7 QAMs for ADS only use 6 QAMs, hence a spot for a nice 3:1 HD package. Pottstown and Lebanon have more bandwidth, such as channel 80 (561 MHz), so it could of gone there for those guys. That channel in Reading is ADS. Although I'd really be exicted to hear confirmation that Reading is stable to RF Ch 119 or 120. Squeeze every last drop out of those SA System III amps!

Ok home now, finally got to see what they did.

DUH, no brainier!

They mapped Universal HD from the old spot muxed together with WPSG HD on ch 107(693 MHz) to the 3:1 HD on Ch 68(489 MHz) along with Food HD and SciFi HD. This was done quite a bit ago. So that left WPSG HD sitting all by itself on Ch 107, and if you remember from some of my previous rants, TBS HD sat all by it's lonesome on Ch 55 (411 MHz). Remember a few months ago, TLC HD used to be there with TBS HD, but TLC moved to a new 3:1 along with HBO HD and Cinemax HD on Ch 116 (747 MHz).

So rather than WPSG HD and TBS HD sit all by themselves, they were muxed together on Ch 107, and that opened up Ch 55 in Reading. So that's where they stuck FX/Speed/Fox News HD!

New maps here:
»home.comcast.net/~cypher ··· /qam.htm

So what else can they do for us Reading people? Well HBO HD and Cinemax HD, and even Starz HD used to be muxed along with SD channels. Since those three are now in their own 3:1 muxes, we should still have room for 3 more HD channels in Reading, before loosing any analog channels, or stress testing past 750 MHz frequencies such as Ch 119 and 120.

Simple really

Cypher,

You are just a beacon of knowledge!! It's kinda scary actually!!

nice detective work cypher. maybe they'll finally get History HD to us sometime.

Yeah we should be able to get our Discovery HD Theater into a 3:1 mux with Animal Planet HD and History HD.

Here's where it get's really challenging...

If you look at the Reading frequency allocations for example, you'll see that currently Discovery HD Theater is together with a bunch of SD channels. Additionally, there's no open space to temporarily move it into a new 3:1 compressed channel. This makes things really difficult to change in one night.

Add the complexity that a lot of these multicast video streams are shared across much of Central PA. You pull HD Theater out of that mux, and you can affect other systems. Who's to say that Pottsville isn't using the same mux, or Lebanon, or State College, or Lancaster, etc...

So you really have quite an extensive jigsaw puzzle. What you do to one system can potentially affect other systems. It would be a lot easier if there was a channel or two open across the board for temporary moves. You don't want to move too many things in one night either, not just because you'll run out of time, but were only human. Too many changes at once is likely to cause problems from mistakes.

While I am confident that they can do it, I'm beginning to understand why they tread lightly. I can look at one system and figure out the puzzle... but add 30+ more in the mix and it begins to look like the hardest game of Soduku you will ever play.

Those little guys really have the advantage. Service Electric, Blue Ridge, ATMC, Sunflower Broadband, etc... They add channels left and right -- despite their much smaller incomes and sizes. They just don't have to worry that, oh this move must be coordinated with 30 other systems pulling data from this pod at the same multicast IP address. SECV's got it easy.

Not to be greedy or anything, but does anyone know what the next HD channels for Reading will be?

This post has veen very helpful. Thanks for the great information. Please keep me posted when you hear new HD channels are coming for Lancaster