"Cheri" wrote:

At this time there is nothing needed for Comcast. I have cable directly
into the TVs (old TVs) and the local stations ran tests to see if you lost
your signal. If you did, you need the converter. It was fine, no change
needed.

Incorrect information. Comcast, as of this morning, has pulled analog
stations between 32 and 71. They say this is due to an "upgrade", and
everyone needs to get a converter now.

Mind you, there are still a few stations in that range that are coming
through, b ut the majority are now replaced by a message telling you to get
the convertor box.

This is different from the information Comcrap tried to feed us last year,
when they told us that we wouldn't need to change anything.

The up side to this is that when I called to cancel my cable TV service,
they bent over backwards to keep me. As in cutting $35.00 off of my monthly
bill, each month, for a year.

So, they basically bribed me to go with a digital TV box, which they are
paying for. I let them.

Jon

"Jon Danniken" wrote:

Incorrect information. Comcast, as of this morning, has pulled analog
stations between 32 and 71. They say this is due to an "upgrade", and
everyone needs to get a converter now.

Here is the message they are putting out as of this morning (this is when
watching TNT, and a number of other stations (History, AMC, et cetera):

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/606/comcrapij2.jpg

Jon

"Jon Danniken" wrote in message
...
"Cheri" wrote:

At this time there is nothing needed for Comcast. I have cable directly
into the TVs (old TVs) and the local stations ran tests to see if you
lost your signal. If you did, you need the converter. It was fine, no
change needed.

Incorrect information. Comcast, as of this morning, has pulled analog
stations between 32 and 71. They say this is due to an "upgrade", and
everyone needs to get a converter now.

Mind you, there are still a few stations in that range that are coming
through, b ut the majority are now replaced by a message telling you to
get the convertor box.

This is different from the information Comcrap tried to feed us last year,
when they told us that we wouldn't need to change anything.


I was under hte impression that cable companies HAD to provide the channels
with no converter box. MetroCast is telling us to hook out old TV's to the
cable so no box is needed. Seems like Comcast is screwing people.

On Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:42:11 -0800, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:

"Jon Danniken" wrote:

Incorrect information. Comcast, as of this morning, has pulled analog
stations between 32 and 71. They say this is due to an "upgrade", and
everyone needs to get a converter now.

Here is the message they are putting out as of this morning (this is when
watching TNT, and a number of other stations (History, AMC, et cetera):

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/606/comcrapij2.jpg

But this isn't the same digital device that I just bought, the one
with the 40 dollar cooupon)??????

Jon

"mm" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:42:11 -0800, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:

"Jon Danniken" wrote:

Incorrect information. Comcast, as of this morning, has pulled analog
stations between 32 and 71. They say this is due to an "upgrade", and
everyone needs to get a converter now.

Here is the message they are putting out as of this morning (this is when
watching TNT, and a number of other stations (History, AMC, et cetera):

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/606/comcrapij2.jpg

But this isn't the same digital device that I just bought, the one
with the 40 dollar cooupon)??????

I wonder if they mean a cable box (not converter), as opposed to hooking
directly to the TV? That would make sense.

On Feb 12, 5:48*am, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
"mm" wrote in message

...





On Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:42:11 -0800, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:

"Jon Danniken" wrote:

Incorrect information. *Comcast, as of this morning, has pulled analog
stations between 32 and 71. *They say this is due to an "upgrade", and
everyone needs to get a converter now.

Here is the message they are putting out as of this morning (this is when
watching TNT, and a number of other stations (History, AMC, et cetera):

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/606/comcrapij2.jpg

But this isn't the same digital device that I just bought, the one
with the 40 dollar cooupon)??????

I wonder if they mean a cable box (not converter), as opposed to hooking
directly to the TV? *That would make sense.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Of course that's what they mean. You don't need the ATSC converters
being provided with the $40 coupon for cable. Cable uses QAM for
their digital channels. That QAM tuner can either be in the cable
box, a cable card, or in the TV. If you use the one in the TV, you
will only receive the basic channels that are not scrambled.

I'd be curious to know, what is on those channels that the msg come up
on? Is it local stations or something else?

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote:

I was under hte impression that cable companies HAD to provide the
channels with no converter box. MetroCast is telling us to hook out old
TV's to the cable so no box is needed. Seems like Comcast is screwing
people.

I read somewhere (likely here) that they were only required to provide the
OTA channels in analog. No validation of that, however.

It seems pretty hard to actually pin down reliable information right now.
Comcast, last year, ran a commercial for a few months telling people that as
long as they were on cable, they didn't have to do anything.

Of course, this was innaccurate information, as evidenced by my previous
post. Whether they were aware of this information being innaccurate at the
time I do now know, but I would be surprised if they didn't. You don't just
"upgrade" your entire analog infrastucture to digital on a few month's
notice.

If that is the case, then they are most certainly "screwing people".

Jon

On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:12:27 -0800, Jon Danniken wrote:
"Ed Pawlowski" wrote:

I was under hte impression that cable companies HAD to provide the
channels with no converter box. MetroCast is telling us to hook out old
TV's to the cable so no box is needed. Seems like Comcast is screwing
people.

I read somewhere (likely here) that they were only required to provide the
OTA channels in analog. No validation of that, however.

It seems pretty hard to actually pin down reliable information right now.
Comcast, last year, ran a commercial for a few months telling people that as
long as they were on cable, they didn't have to do anything.

As long as you don't mind renting a cable box for every tv and don't
mind losing the ability to record anything unless you have their crappy
DVR.

"AZ Nomad" wrote:
Jon Danniken wrote:

It seems pretty hard to actually pin down reliable information right now.
Comcast, last year, ran a commercial for a few months telling people that
as
long as they were on cable, they didn't have to do anything.

As long as you don't mind renting a cable box for every tv and don't
mind losing the ability to record anything unless you have their crappy
DVR.

Exactly. They said, "cable subscribers don't need to do anything". Now
they say, "cable subscribers need to get our digital device".

My suspicions are that they knew the first bit was bull****, and only said
it to lull people into a false sense of security so that they would not
consider jumping ship.

Jon

wrote :
"Jon Danniken" wrote:

Here is the message they are putting out as of this morning (this is
when
watching TNT, and a number of other stations (History, AMC, et cetera):

I'd be curious to know, what is on those channels that the msg come up
on? Is it local stations or something else?

Try reading for comprehension.

Jon

On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:27:01 -0800, Jon Danniken wrote:
"AZ Nomad" wrote:
Jon Danniken wrote:

It seems pretty hard to actually pin down reliable information right now.
Comcast, last year, ran a commercial for a few months telling people that
as
long as they were on cable, they didn't have to do anything.

As long as you don't mind renting a cable box for every tv and don't
mind losing the ability to record anything unless you have their crappy
DVR.

Exactly. They said, "cable subscribers don't need to do anything". Now
they say, "cable subscribers need to get our digital device".

My suspicions are that they knew the first bit was bull****, and only said
it to lull people into a false sense of security so that they would not
consider jumping ship.

Every month I get closer to dumping cable tv. There are a few channels
that I record off of analog tv and if they are switched to encrypted
digital like all the HD channels not available off the air, then I'll
dump them for sure. I watch tv when *I* want to not when the program
is airing a particular show and that means that I timeshift just about
everything I watch. If I can't record it, I don't want to watch it.
TV commercials have become too ****ing obnoxious for me to tolerate
them any more. I have a very nice mythtv setup and don't want their
crappy DVR.

The channels that I can record off of digital TV are all available
OTA. What is the point of paying for cable if it offers nothing extra
that I want?

Jon Danniken wrote:
"Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
I was under hte impression that cable companies HAD to provide the
channels with no converter box. MetroCast is telling us to hook out old
TV's to the cable so no box is needed. Seems like Comcast is screwing
people.

I read somewhere (likely here) that they were only required to provide the
OTA channels in analog. No validation of that, however.


They are only required to provide OTA channels unecrypted. They aren't
required to do anything with analog regarding keeping it up or not.

They have to decide if turning off analog channels is a good business
plan or not since it would require users to do something. In the case of
cable the user would need to get a converter box or a new TV. So the
user just might decide to move to a satellite provider since they are
forced into doing something.

A nearby regional cable provider is doing extensive advertising right
now to attract such users: "get local channels on our cable for
$10/month, no converter box and everything will be the same"



It seems pretty hard to actually pin down reliable information right now.
Comcast, last year, ran a commercial for a few months telling people that as
long as they were on cable, they didn't have to do anything.

Of course, this was innaccurate information, as evidenced by my previous
post. Whether they were aware of this information being innaccurate at the
time I do now know, but I would be surprised if they didn't. You don't just
"upgrade" your entire analog infrastucture to digital on a few month's
notice.

If that is the case, then they are most certainly "screwing people".

Jon

Jon Danniken wrote:
"AZ Nomad" wrote:
Jon Danniken wrote:

It seems pretty hard to actually pin down reliable information right now.
Comcast, last year, ran a commercial for a few months telling people that
as
long as they were on cable, they didn't have to do anything.
As long as you don't mind renting a cable box for every tv and don't
mind losing the ability to record anything unless you have their crappy
DVR.

Exactly. They said, "cable subscribers don't need to do anything". Now
they say, "cable subscribers need to get our digital device".

My suspicions are that they knew the first bit was bull****, and only said
it to lull people into a false sense of security so that they would not
consider jumping ship.

Jon


No surprise with Comcast. They tried to completely turn off analog in
Chicago last year claiming the "government required them to do it". We
used to have Adelphia and Comcast bought the part that includes our
area. The first thing they did was to drop existing analog channels and
carry them as digital only. In some areas they are now dropping 1/2 of
the analog to force people into getting converter boxes.

"Jon Danniken" wrote:

I read somewhere (likely here) that they were only required to provide the
OTA channels in analog. No validation of that, however.


"The 1992 Cable Act is very clear," said FCC spokeswoman Mary Diamond in a
statement. "Cable operators must ensure that all local broadcast stations
carried pursuant to this Act are 'viewable' by all cable subscribers.

But that requirement can be met by handing out cable boxes for free,
transmitting in clear QAM, or transmitting analog clear.

On Feb 12, 11:29*am, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:
wrote :

*"Jon Danniken" wrote:

Here is the message they are putting out as of this morning (this is
when
watching TNT, and a number of other stations (History, AMC, et cetera):

I'd be curious to know, what is on those channels that the msg come up
on? * Is it local stations or something else?

Try reading for comprehension.

Jon

Try reading what you posted. You said Comcast has pulled "analog
stations" between 32 and 71. That is what lead to the confusion.
They are not stations, which would imply that they were actual
broadcast stations. They are cable channels. No need to start
getting nasty.

On Feb 12, 11:27*am, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:
"AZ Nomad" wrote:
*Jon Danniken wrote:

It seems pretty hard to actually pin down reliable information right now.
Comcast, last year, ran a commercial for a few months telling people that
as
long as they were on cable, they didn't have to do anything.

As long as you don't mind renting a cable box for every tv and don't
mind losing the ability to record anything unless you have their crappy
DVR.

Exactly. *They said, "cable subscribers don't need to do anything". *Now
they say, "cable subscribers need to get our digital device".

What they mean is that cable subscribers don't need to do anything
specific to the transition to DTV broadcasting of the local STATIONS.
Which I believe is true. Cablevision has conveyed the same
message. Cablevision like most other cable companies has been
gradually shifting to digital transmission of more channels. And
as they do that, channels that were transmitted as analog now need
either a digital cable box or cable card to receive. That has been
going on here for several years. And that is the message you are
seeing regarding AMC, History Channel, etc. Those are cable channels
and have nothing to do with the DTV broadcast transition. If you
didn't have a digital cable box or cable card, you got that message on
Cablevision a couple years ago.






My suspicions are that they knew the first bit was bull****, and only said
it to lull people into a false sense of security so that they would not
consider jumping ship.

Jon

On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:50:44 -0700, Robert Neville wrote:
"Jon Danniken" wrote:

I read somewhere (likely here) that they were only required to provide the
OTA channels in analog. No validation of that, however.


"The 1992 Cable Act is very clear," said FCC spokeswoman Mary Diamond in a
statement. "Cable operators must ensure that all local broadcast stations
carried pursuant to this Act are 'viewable' by all cable subscribers.

But that requirement can be met by handing out cable boxes for free,
transmitting in clear QAM, or transmitting analog clear.

Does that cable act say anything about handing out cable boxes for free?

On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 10:38:56 -0600, AZ Nomad
wrote:

On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:27:01 -0800, Jon Danniken wrote:
"AZ Nomad" wrote:
Jon Danniken wrote:

It seems pretty hard to actually pin down reliable information right now.
Comcast, last year, ran a commercial for a few months telling people that
as
long as they were on cable, they didn't have to do anything.

As long as you don't mind renting a cable box for every tv and don't
mind losing the ability to record anything unless you have their crappy
DVR.

Exactly. They said, "cable subscribers don't need to do anything". Now
they say, "cable subscribers need to get our digital device".

My suspicions are that they knew the first bit was bull****, and only said
it to lull people into a false sense of security so that they would not
consider jumping ship.

Every month I get closer to dumping cable tv. There are a few channels
that I record off of analog tv and if they are switched to encrypted
digital like all the HD channels not available off the air, then I'll
dump them for sure. I watch tv when *I* want to not when the program
is airing a particular show and that means that I timeshift just about
everything I watch. If I can't record it, I don't want to watch it.
TV commercials have become too ****ing obnoxious for me to tolerate
them any more. I have a very nice mythtv setup and don't want their
crappy DVR.

The channels that I can record off of digital TV are all available
OTA. What is the point of paying for cable if it offers nothing extra
that I want?


How many $1 movies from Redbox would I have to watch to match
Comcast's monthly charge? Maybe not a fair comparison, but gives you
an idea about value. Cable has too much commercial time (no wonder
people are fat and broke), too much censorship for my liking and if
you watch for more than 6 months, it's the same crap over and over
again. I schedule my favorite programs to record local programs with
a PC tuner card, then play back skipping commercials with no DVR
service fees. I watch SNL in 45 minutes or less, at my convenience. A
good tuner card runs about $100, better at recording than the el
cheapo tuners. After I dumped Comcast, I saved money, plus made a
PBS donation.

On Feb 11, 10:50*pm, mm wrote:
But this isn't the same digital device that I just bought, the one
with the 40 dollar cooupon)??????

No.

Notice they call it a "digital device" not a "converter box."

Converter box is for ANTENNA.
Digital device is for CABLE.

You get the converter box with your coupon.
The cable company provides the digital device.

On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:47:46 -0500, Phisherman wrote:


How many $1 movies from Redbox would I have to watch to match
Comcast's monthly charge? Maybe not a fair comparison, but gives you
an idea about value. Cable has too much commercial time (no wonder
people are fat and broke), too much censorship for my liking and if
you watch for more than 6 months, it's the same crap over and over
again. I schedule my favorite programs to record local programs with
a PC tuner card, then play back skipping commercials with no DVR
service fees. I watch SNL in 45 minutes or less, at my convenience. A
good tuner card runs about $100, better at recording than the el
cheapo tuners. After I dumped Comcast, I saved money, plus made a
PBS donation.

There's some stuff I record off of the history channel, comedy central, travel
channel, TNT, etc. that I can't get off the air. That's about all I'm keeping
cable for. If cox moves them to encrypted digital, then I'm dumping them.

AZ Nomad wrote:

Does that cable act say anything about handing out cable boxes for free?

Of course not. It's up to the cable company to decide how to comply with the
requirement.

"Robert Neville" wrote:
"Jon Danniken" wrote:

I read somewhere (likely here) that they were only required to provide the
OTA channels in analog. No validation of that, however.


"The 1992 Cable Act is very clear," said FCC spokeswoman Mary Diamond in a
statement. "Cable operators must ensure that all local broadcast stations
carried pursuant to this Act are 'viewable' by all cable subscribers.

But that requirement can be met by handing out cable boxes for free,
transmitting in clear QAM, or transmitting analog clear.

So *that's* the deal; it just applies to the locals Thanks for the
information, Robert, it is appreciated.

Jon

"George" wrote:

No surprise with Comcast. They tried to completely turn off analog in
Chicago last year claiming the "government required them to do it". We
used to have Adelphia and Comcast bought the part that includes our area.
The first thing they did was to drop existing analog channels and carry
them as digital only. In some areas they are now dropping 1/2 of the
analog to force people into getting converter boxes.

The more I understand Comcast, the more I am coming to understand that they
are primarily a marketing company. The rest of their business, TV, cable
internet, and phone, are nothing more than features to support the
marketing.

Jon

Robert Neville wrote:
AZ Nomad wrote:

Does that cable act say anything about handing out cable boxes for
free?

Of course not. It's up to the cable company to decide how to comply
with the requirement.

The Cable Bill says that the local channels have to be available to
all _subscribers_, not to anybody who manages to tap into the cable
somehow.

If one needs a cable box to view the service, then any _subscriber_
will have one.

But this has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with what was
required to happen on the 17th and which Obama has put back to June.
That affects over the air broadcasters whose signal you recieve with
an antenna, it has no effect at all on cable.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 10:01:12 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

On Feb 11, 10:50*pm, mm wrote:
But this isn't the same digital device that I just bought, the one
with the 40 dollar cooupon)??????

No.

Notice they call it a "digital device" not a "converter box."

Converter box is for ANTENNA.
Digital device is for CABLE.

You get the converter box with your coupon.
The cable company provides the digital device.

Thanks to you and Ed. Sometimes I need these things spelled out.

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...

But this has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with what was
required to happen on the 17th and which Obama has put back to June.
That affects over the air broadcasters whose signal you recieve with
an antenna, it has no effect at all on cable.


The newspaper today said that some broadcasters are going ahead with the Feb
17th date.

Cheri

On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 10:22:51 -0600, AZ Nomad
wrote:

On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:12:27 -0800, Jon Danniken wrote:
"Ed Pawlowski" wrote:

I was under hte impression that cable companies HAD to provide the
channels with no converter box. MetroCast is telling us to hook out old
TV's to the cable so no box is needed. Seems like Comcast is screwing
people.

I read somewhere (likely here) that they were only required to provide the
OTA channels in analog. No validation of that, however.

It seems pretty hard to actually pin down reliable information right now.
Comcast, last year, ran a commercial for a few months telling people that as
long as they were on cable, they didn't have to do anything.

As long as you don't mind renting a cable box for every tv and don't
mind losing the ability to record anything unless you have their crappy
DVR.

My DVR (ReplayTV 5xxx) works fine with my digital cable box
(Motorola).
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"The government of the United States is not, in
any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:18:11 -0800, "Cheri"
wrote:

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...

But this has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with what was
required to happen on the 17th and which Obama has put back to June.
That affects over the air broadcasters whose signal you recieve with
an antenna, it has no effect at all on cable.


The newspaper today said that some broadcasters are going ahead with the Feb
17th date.

Cheri

The site at https://www.dtv2009.gov/ has a list of channels, but it's
not in a standard format.

BTW, that site is currently NOT showing the countdown (of days until
the transition).
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"The government of the United States is not, in
any sense, founded on the Christian religion."