jamesgangnc wrote:
On Mar 26, 10:07 am, (MICHELLE H.) wrote:
Hello,

This is not really a "repair" question, but I am still looking for some
info. please. Comcast Cable is doing some kind of switchover to mostly
all digital channels on April 15th of this year, I believe it is. They
say that channels 23-69 are all going to be in digital, and the only way
you can view them is if you have either #1 a "Digital Converter Box", OR
#2 a "DTA Box, both if which you get from Comcast.

If you don't use one of those 2 boxes, then you won't be able to view
channels 23-69 after April 15th, 2010. Anyway my question is, in the
living room where we have our TV and the Comcast "Digital Converter
Box", we have the A/B Switch hooked up to the VCR, so that we can record
one show on the VCR while watching another show on the "Digital
Converter Box". But now when they do the switch over, the VCR will no
longer get channels 23-69.

I know that you can hook up the "RCA Plugs" to the "Digital Converter
Box" and plug them into the VCR, but the problem with that is you HAVE
to watch whatever your taping. So what happens if you want to tape
something on your VCR, and watch a different channel with the Converter
Box??

According to Comcast, the analog VCR will no longer be able to get
channels 23-69. So basically they are forcing you to USE either the
"Digital Converter Box" or "DTA Box" at all times.

They say that you CAN'T use both boxes together, it's either one or the
other. So what happens if I want to tape something on say channel 49 at
8:00 pm, and watch something on channel 31 at 8:00 pm as well? Channel
49 won't come in on the VCR and only on the "Converter Box", so I can't
tape one thing and watch another.

Does anyone know if there is a way around this? Is there a VCR with a
digital scrambler in it to pick up the digital channels, so that I can
continue to tape one show while watching another?

Any info. would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

I think your chances of finding anything vcr that deals with new
digital stuff are about zip. It's just about impossible to find a vcr
period. You will need a second converter box and I also suspect
comcast charges by the month per box? You may find it is no savings
over going ahead with a dvr and dumping your vcr. On the plus side
the dvr makes scheduling recordings far easier.

I have Comcast and have been trying to figure out what it all means.

The FCC forced the cable industry to allow a "cable card" to decode
signals. Some DVRs have cable card built in, some have a slot to install
them. Comcast will probably lease you a DVR, or I believe Tvio can be used.

Some cable cards can decode multiple channels at the same time (so a DVR
can record multiple channels). I don't have one - probably can record
and pass through different channels.

Some TVs also have a cable card slot. I have read the FCC set a max fee
of $2 for a cable card. Here the first one is free. A cable card in the
TV and a converter ahead of the VCR is the equivalent of 2 converters.

From what I have read "Tru2way" capability built into a TV allows
watching pay-per-view, which Comcast would like you to do. As far as I
know, if your TV does not have Tru2way you can still use a cable card
and just not have the interactive functions.

The only way around having some kind of decoder for the upper channels
is if one of the channels you want is direct broadcast and use an
antenna. Those channels are probably available on Comcast as the low
channels unencoded anyway.

The reason for the digital changeover is, presumably, when Comcast gets
rid of the old "analog" channels and switches to "digital" they can add
more channels. This is partly because digital takes less bandwidth. They
can also compress digital to reduce bandwidth (which degrades the signal).

I have found it real annoying how hard it is to get good information on
all of this. (Anyone have any good sources?)