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?)

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!

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.

Yes, Comcast charges like $6 bucks a month for the "Box Rental", and
then it's like a $3 bucks a month for the "Remote Control Rental" as
well.

"MICHELLE H." wrote in message
...

...............................
Does anyone know if there is a way around this?

That's a simple one. Dump Comcast and get Dish Network. More channels,
less $, less BS.

HTH,

Unc

On Mar 26, 10:22*am, 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.

I don't have Comcast, but from the description of the problem, I
agree. Most of the cable companies are going to digital to pack more
channels into the same system. But you then need a QAM digital tuner
to receive that channel.





*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.- Hide quoted text -

I think you probably mean a DVR supplied by Comcast, which is just a
different cable box that cable companies typically charge about $10/
mth extra for that include recording capability. That would solve the
problem, because all the ones I've seen let you record one program
while watching another. On the other hand, a second cable box is
probably only about half that. But I agree that the DVR makes
recording and watching things MUCH easier.

The other choice is to buy a standalone DVR with a QAM tuner. For
example, you can buy a Tivo and a plug-in cable card. I've used Tivo
and Cablevisions DVR, made by Scientifc-Atlanta. And I can tell you
there is no comparison in ease of use. The Tivo is far superior.
However, the Tivo together with the service aren't cheap. It would
probably take 5 years to break even, after that you;d be ahead.

You might also be able to find some standalone QAM tuner product on
Ebay or someplace. But that leaves one big problem, which is unless
the existing VCR can talk to and change the tuner, it won't be able to
switch among the channels. So, to record something, you'd have to
set the QAM tuner to the channel and the VCR to the record time for a
one time recording.

Which gets back to what James said about DVRs being so much more user
friendly. If you're looking for a cheap non hidef DVR solution,
another possibility might be to find a used Tivo on Ebay that is
bundled with lifetime service. People might be dumping them when
moving to HD, etc. Just make sure you get one with a cablecard, as
that is the critical piece to receive the digital channels.

On 3/26/2010 10:59 AM, wrote:

You might also be able to find some standalone QAM tuner product on
Ebay or someplace. But that leaves one big problem, which is unless
the existing VCR can talk to and change the tuner, it won't be able to
switch among the channels. So, to record something, you'd have to
set the QAM tuner to the channel and the VCR to the record time for a
one time recording.

Which gets back to what James said about DVRs being so much more user
friendly. If you're looking for a cheap non hidef DVR solution,
another possibility might be to find a used Tivo on Ebay that is
bundled with lifetime service. People might be dumping them when
moving to HD, etc. Just make sure you get one with a cablecard, as
that is the critical piece to receive the digital channels.


The OP should also consider the Magnavox H2160MW9, which is a non-TIVO DVR with
built-in ATSC and QAM tuner. It sells at walmart.com and target.com although it
is usually a better buy at walmart. I paid $248 last year, including shipping
directly to my home. I've used it extensively and have been entirely satisfied
with it. (It also has a DVD player/recorder built-in and you can dub either way
from hard drive to DVD, or vice versa.) Although it only records/plays back in
standard definition, it's HDMI output format can be set to 480P, 720P, 1080i, or
1080P to get the best quality picture your TV is capable of providing.

The DVR has an antenna out jack which is a pass through analogous to a VCR's
antenna out connection. Although I receive over the air reception only, it
seems to me that you could connect the COMCAST cable directly to the DVR (and
choose which digital signal you want to record) and then connect the antenna out
from the DVR to where the cable is usually connected to the COMCAST box.
Although the DVR would not be able to receive scrambled signals from premium
subscriptions, I suspect that all the standard package signals would be viewable
and recordable.

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?


*I have Cablevision. When they switched over to digital signals my VCR no
longer recorded anything even if the signals come out of the converter box
and go directly into the VCR. Of course they will rent me a digital video
recorder for an additional monthly fee, but I don't watch too much TV to
justify the additional cost.

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!

Post in the Comcast group. Way mine are set up on converter boxes, I
can only tape channel I'm watching.
If you go all digital and HD you get what I think is called a DVR box
which allows recording one and watching another.
I don't have one but my son does and it works great and is easy to
use. As others mention, VCR's are becoming a thing of the past.
Also Comcast will give you free, two DTA boxes and you could set up on
another TV. WIll not get the premium or upper channels but won't cost
anything.

On 03/26/10 10:55 am, uncle K wrote:

Does anyone know if there is a way around this?

That's a simple one. Dump Comcast and get Dish Network. More channels,
less $, less BS.

Or DirecTV.

Perce

On Mar 26, 10:48*am, Frank 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!

Post in the Comcast group. *Way mine are set up on converter boxes, I
can only tape channel I'm watching.
If you go all digital and HD you get what I think is called a DVR box
which allows recording one and watching another.
I don't have one but my son does and it works great and is easy to
use. *As others mention, VCR's are becoming a thing of the past.
Also Comcast will give you free, two DTA boxes and you could set up on
another TV. *WIll not get the premium or upper channels but won't cost
anything.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Actually, here in Naperville/Lisle IL area, you can get 3 boxes.
before paying an extra $2.00 per month that they told me it would
cost. I have one convertor on the living room tv, the output of the
box goes to the VCR and then into the tv thru the VCR. You can only
record what the Comcast box is outputting. I have the other two
convertors hooked up to two other TV sets in other parts of the
house. So, if you want to record something on the vcr, you set that
up in the living room and then go to other parts of the house to watch
another channel. WIth only two of us at home, that works out fine as
my wife watches in one room, I watch in another room, and the living
room watches/records whatever it is we want to record. My problem was
the signal strength from the cable was weak and whenever it rained,
the signal got so weak the convertors would not work. I complained
and Comcast finally replaced the cable from the pole to the house due
to a squirrel having eaten thru the cable insulation out near the pole
connection. Whenever it rained we lost the signal. Comcast was a
real pain to get to come out to fix things, they acted like I didn't
know what I was talking about, even though I had worked in the
electronics industry for more than 45 years and was head of an
international electronics engineering organization.

Yes, that it what it is, the smaller "Comcast DTA boxes" that you have
to now use, if you don't have a full-size "Comcast Converter Box".


Comcast gives you 2 for "free", but I am sure that the cost is worked
into the bill somehow?


Also, I have a TV and a VCR in the bedroom, so I need to hook the "DTA"
box up in there now. One of the other questions I have is, when hooking
it up to the TV and VCR, do I need to use "digital cable wires"
specifically because the "DTA Box" is a digital box, or can I just use
the cheap "push in" antenna in/out wires that I use now?

On Mar 26, 11:35*am, "John Grabowski" wrote:
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?

*I have Cablevision. *When they switched over to digital signals my VCR no
longer recorded anything even if the signals come out of the converter box
and go directly into the VCR.


Now that I don't understand. The signals will go into a standard TV
as RF, Svideo, composite video, etc. So, there is no technical
reason I can see why the VCR would not accept them as well.




*Of course they will rent me a digital video
recorder for an additional monthly fee, but I don't watch too much TV to
justify the additional cost.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

On Mar 26, 12:06*pm, (MICHELLE H.) wrote:
Yes, that it what it is, the smaller "Comcast DTA boxes" that you have
to now use, if you don't have a full-size "Comcast Converter Box".

Comcast gives you 2 for "free", but I am sure that the cost is worked
into the bill somehow?

Also, I have a TV and a VCR in the bedroom, so I need to hook the "DTA"
box up in there now. One of the other questions I have is, when hooking
it up to the TV and VCR, do I need to use "digital cable wires"
specifically because the "DTA Box" is a digital box, or can I just use
the cheap "push in" antenna in/out wires that I use now?

You can continue to use the same cables you are using now. The boxes
output signals that any TV or VCR will input. The exception would be
if you're moving to HD, then you would need the appropriate component
video or HDMI cables.

On Mar 26, 1:35*pm, bud-- wrote:
wrote:
On Mar 26, 12:06 pm, (MICHELLE H.) wrote:
Yes, that it what it is, the smaller "Comcast DTA boxes" that you have
to now use, if you don't have a full-size "Comcast Converter Box".

Comcast gives you 2 for "free", but I am sure that the cost is worked
into the bill somehow?

Also, I have a TV and a VCR in the bedroom, so I need to hook the "DTA"
box up in there now. One of the other questions I have is, when hooking
it up to the TV and VCR, do I need to use "digital cable wires"
specifically because the "DTA Box" is a digital box, or can I just use
the cheap "push in" antenna in/out wires that I use now?

The new converters available here a
* * Digital set top box - programmed channel changes, on-demand, ...
* * Digital adapter - simple version of the above
* * HD receiver

Do you get 16:9 HD with the first 2, or do you need the 3rd?
Now (analog) Comcast has 4:3 and 16:9 HD versions of some channels. Will
that continue, with the 3rd converter required for 16:9 HD? If not, what
different do you get with the HD receiver?

(I have not yet called Comcast to sort all this out.)

You can continue to use the same cables you are using now. *The boxes
output signals that any TV or VCR will input. * The exception would be
if you're moving to HD, then you would need the appropriate component
video or HDMI cables.

I have read that the first two converters (above) have coax out. They
could still send 16:9 HD signals to a single QAM channel. (That wouldn't
work with the VCR.)
Or maybe it is NTSC/analog - which would work. Sounds from hr's post
that this is what it is.

I have also read than none of them have audio out - so if you are
listening to audio-only channels you need to get audio from the TV.

Lower channels here will mostly be local broadcast stations. _All_ upper
channels (probably all that the OP talked about) will be scrambled. They
will not be available without a converter or device with cable card.

Yeah, the output of the comcast boxes is plain old NSTC analog, either
on channel 3 or 4. I use the channel 4 output from the living room
converter to the vcr to the tv, and also wire the output thru a
splitter and an amplifier to several odd sets in the family room and
basement and garage. I use the channel 3 output from the 2 other
converters we use for the tv's in the bedroom and office. Using all
adapters on channel 3 or all adapters on channel 4 seemed to give a
little background noise when we first set everything up. I haven't
reset any of the adapters to all channel 3 or 4 since then to see what
happens.

Hi everyone,


Thanks for all the helpful responses so far, I really do appreciate it!
Just so I understand this, let me ask something else. Unfortunately, I
don't have a newer TV with a "QAM" built in digital converter. But if I
did have one of those types of TVs, could I tape one channel through the
cable box, by using the RCA jacks plugged into the VCR, and then just
turn the TV to another channel and watch something else?

wrote:
On Mar 26, 12:06 pm, (MICHELLE H.) wrote:
Yes, that it what it is, the smaller "Comcast DTA boxes" that you have
to now use, if you don't have a full-size "Comcast Converter Box".

Comcast gives you 2 for "free", but I am sure that the cost is worked
into the bill somehow?

Also, I have a TV and a VCR in the bedroom, so I need to hook the "DTA"
box up in there now. One of the other questions I have is, when hooking
it up to the TV and VCR, do I need to use "digital cable wires"
specifically because the "DTA Box" is a digital box, or can I just use
the cheap "push in" antenna in/out wires that I use now?

The new converters available here a
Digital set top box - programmed channel changes, on-demand, ...
Digital adapter - simple version of the above
HD receiver

Do you get 16:9 HD with the first 2, or do you need the 3rd?
Now (analog) Comcast has 4:3 and 16:9 HD versions of some channels. Will
that continue, with the 3rd converter required for 16:9 HD? If not, what
different do you get with the HD receiver?

(I have not yet called Comcast to sort all this out.)


You can continue to use the same cables you are using now. The boxes
output signals that any TV or VCR will input. The exception would be
if you're moving to HD, then you would need the appropriate component
video or HDMI cables.

I have read that the first two converters (above) have coax out. They
could still send 16:9 HD signals to a single QAM channel. (That wouldn't
work with the VCR.)
Or maybe it is NTSC/analog - which would work. Sounds from hr's post
that this is what it is.

I have also read than none of them have audio out - so if you are
listening to audio-only channels you need to get audio from the TV.

Lower channels here will mostly be local broadcast stations. _All_ upper
channels (probably all that the OP talked about) will be scrambled. They
will not be available without a converter or device with cable card.

MICHELLE H. wrote:
Hi everyone,


Thanks for all the helpful responses so far, I really do appreciate it!
Just so I understand this, let me ask something else. Unfortunately, I
don't have a newer TV with a "QAM" built in digital converter. But if I
did have one of those types of TVs, could I tape one channel through the
cable box, by using the RCA jacks plugged into the VCR, and then just
turn the TV to another channel and watch something else?


Your QAM tuner TV connected to cable can only watch channels that are
not scrambled. All the high channels (probably all that you asked about)
will be scrambled, so your QAM tuner also needs a cable card or the TV
needs to be fed by a converter. With a cable card you _may_ be able to
get 16:9 HD channels that you can't with the lower end (free) converters.

From reading this thread hopefully you know the right questions to ask
Comcast (if you call them to verify what appears here). Knowing the
questions is a real big part of getting the information you need.

hr(bob) wrote:
On Mar 26, 1:35 pm, bud-- wrote:
wrote:
On Mar 26, 12:06 pm, (MICHELLE H.) wrote:
Yes, that it what it is, the smaller "Comcast DTA boxes" that you have
to now use, if you don't have a full-size "Comcast Converter Box".
Comcast gives you 2 for "free", but I am sure that the cost is worked
into the bill somehow?
Also, I have a TV and a VCR in the bedroom, so I need to hook the "DTA"
box up in there now. One of the other questions I have is, when hooking
it up to the TV and VCR, do I need to use "digital cable wires"
specifically because the "DTA Box" is a digital box, or can I just use
the cheap "push in" antenna in/out wires that I use now?
The new converters available here a
Digital set top box - programmed channel changes, on-demand, ...
Digital adapter - simple version of the above
HD receiver

Do you get 16:9 HD with the first 2, or do you need the 3rd?
Now (analog) Comcast has 4:3 and 16:9 HD versions of some channels. Will
that continue, with the 3rd converter required for 16:9 HD? If not, what
different do you get with the HD receiver?

(I have not yet called Comcast to sort all this out.)

You can continue to use the same cables you are using now. The boxes
output signals that any TV or VCR will input. The exception would be
if you're moving to HD, then you would need the appropriate component
video or HDMI cables.
I have read that the first two converters (above) have coax out. They
could still send 16:9 HD signals to a single QAM channel. (That wouldn't
work with the VCR.)
Or maybe it is NTSC/analog - which would work. Sounds from hr's post
that this is what it is.

I have also read than none of them have audio out - so if you are
listening to audio-only channels you need to get audio from the TV.

Lower channels here will mostly be local broadcast stations. _All_ upper
channels (probably all that the OP talked about) will be scrambled. They
will not be available without a converter or device with cable card.

Yeah, the output of the comcast boxes is plain old NSTC analog, either
on channel 3 or 4. I use the channel 4 output from the living room
converter to the vcr to the tv, and also wire the output thru a
splitter and an amplifier to several odd sets in the family room and
basement and garage. I use the channel 3 output from the 2 other
converters we use for the tv's in the bedroom and office. Using all
adapters on channel 3 or all adapters on channel 4 seemed to give a
little background noise when we first set everything up. I haven't
reset any of the adapters to all channel 3 or 4 since then to see what
happens.

That answers a lot of questions. Thanks

Your Comcast system has gone through the digital conversion? (Everything
is digital except maybe the bottom 20 or so channels.)
The conversion is just rolling through this area.

So the signal from the low end boxes is 4:3 analog, not 16:9 HD digital.

Do you know if you are getting 4:3 cable channels where there are 16:9
HD equivalent channels (which your converter ignores)?
Or a 4:3 low def letterbox of a 16:9 channel? Or ...?

In our unconverted system there are 4:3 NTSC analog channels and
equivalent 16:9 QAM digital channels for many of the cable networks.
(These analog channels will disappear in the changeover.)

An HD converter here is $7/mo. A single cable card, which I believe gets
you the HD basic and? HD starter channels (now) is free.

IMHO information from Comcast is appalling.

On 3/26/2010 10:55 AM, uncle K wrote:

"MICHELLE H." wrote in message
...

...............................
Does anyone know if there is a way around this?

That's a simple one. Dump Comcast and get Dish Network. More channels,
less $, less BS.

HTH,

Unc

Exactly, if you need to get a bunch of boxes might as well get them from
a satellite provider and pay less. Remember it wasn't that long ago that
the cable companies touted that you didn't need a box like those
satellite companies make you use?

On 3/26/2010 11:25 AM, Peter wrote:
On 3/26/2010 10:59 AM, wrote:

You might also be able to find some standalone QAM tuner product on
Ebay or someplace. But that leaves one big problem, which is unless
the existing VCR can talk to and change the tuner, it won't be able to
switch among the channels. So, to record something, you'd have to
set the QAM tuner to the channel and the VCR to the record time for a
one time recording.

Which gets back to what James said about DVRs being so much more user
friendly. If you're looking for a cheap non hidef DVR solution,
another possibility might be to find a used Tivo on Ebay that is
bundled with lifetime service. People might be dumping them when
moving to HD, etc. Just make sure you get one with a cablecard, as
that is the critical piece to receive the digital channels.


The OP should also consider the Magnavox H2160MW9, which is a non-TIVO
DVR with built-in ATSC and QAM tuner. It sells at walmart.com and
target.com although it is usually a better buy at walmart. I paid $248
last year, including shipping directly to my home. I've used it
extensively and have been entirely satisfied with it. (It also has a DVD
player/recorder built-in and you can dub either way from hard drive to
DVD, or vice versa.) Although it only records/plays back in standard
definition, it's HDMI output format can be set to 480P, 720P, 1080i, or
1080P to get the best quality picture your TV is capable of providing.

Main issue about using a DVR is that Comcast is quite variable about
what they encrypt. In some markets only a handful of channels are
unencrypted which would render the built-in tuner almost useless.



The DVR has an antenna out jack which is a pass through analogous to a
VCR's antenna out connection. Although I receive over the air reception
only, it seems to me that you could connect the COMCAST cable directly
to the DVR (and choose which digital signal you want to record) and then
connect the antenna out from the DVR to where the cable is usually
connected to the COMCAST box. Although the DVR would not be able to
receive scrambled signals from premium subscriptions, I suspect that all
the standard package signals would be viewable and recordable.

On 3/26/2010 3:12 PM, bud-- wrote:
MICHELLE H. wrote:
Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the helpful responses so far, I really do appreciate it!
Just so I understand this, let me ask something else. Unfortunately, I
don't have a newer TV with a "QAM" built in digital converter. But if I
did have one of those types of TVs, could I tape one channel through the
cable box, by using the RCA jacks plugged into the VCR, and then just
turn the TV to another channel and watch something else?

Your QAM tuner TV connected to cable can only watch channels that are
not scrambled. All the high channels (probably all that you asked about)
will be scrambled, so your QAM tuner also needs a cable card or the TV
needs to be fed by a converter. With a cable card you _may_ be able to
get 16:9 HD channels that you can't with the lower end (free) converters.

From reading this thread hopefully you know the right questions to ask
Comcast (if you call them to verify what appears here). Knowing the
questions is a real big part of getting the information you need.

Unfortunately you can't get a straight answer form Comcast about which
channels are not encrypted. In some markets those may only be the locals.

On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:07:29 -0400, (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.

I'm pretty sure you can use any digital converter box. You don't have
to use theirs. You have one already iirc, and you can use the one
you have and a second one in parallel.

Pal Plus by Dish Network sold and may still sell a digital conversion
box that could be programmed like a VCR to change stations at
scheduled times, so you can match up the stations on that with the
times your vcr goes on, and tape either off the air, or off the
digital cable signal (which as far as I know are the same format). The
input on your VCR would be channel 3 or 4, whichever you set as the
output for the digital conversion box.

This was a rather expensive box, selling for 30 dollars above the 40
dollar coupon, but maybe prices have gone down, now that the rush to
buy the boxes was over shortly after the over the air digital
conversion last June.

OTOH, I thought I would be seeing people giving away DCBoxes as more
people bought digital tv's since last June, like on the freecycle list
I read, or selling them cheap at hamfests, and I haven't seen any.
They're probably cheaper but I don't think they are free yet.

They say that you CAN'T use both boxes together, it's either one or the
other.

They probably can't explain things very well, maybe don't even
understand your question. You can't use them in sequence, but you can
use them in parallel, I'm sure. I'm confused what you have now, but
in additoin, You can get a splitter and split the signal out of your
cable box, sending one signal to the tv and one to the vcr. Then you
can choose with the A/B switch, the output of the VCR or the cable to
decide which goes into the tv, like you're doing now.

BTW, there are remote controlled A/B switches, though I only found two
models. One was from Radio Shack, and it has a non-remote switch
also, useful when you are standing at the tv. I found something
strange about Radio Shack, which usually has one of the best webpages
out there. Online it said they were out of stock on the Remote A/B
Swtich and they offered to email me when they had mroe. They did, and
I went to the store and in the course of conversation found out they
had never been out of them. That's really strange because in other
cases, they would let me pick a store and find out how many each store
had of something, including zero.

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?

There is a philips 3576H DVDR that has good thigns and bad things. I
think I paid 200 dollars (no rental) but that was on a big discount of
50 or 80 dollars. OTOH, they might have such sales often. Other than
mail order, I coudl only find it at Sam's Club and they had an offer
in the paper, free membership for one day. Although won't most of
those places let you belong free for one day if they don't remember
you doing that over and over? The H means it has a hard drive that
holds at low def (which is fine unless you have a really big tv) 200
or 300 hours of tv. And you can also record to DVD, or copy from
either to the other. I've made two dvd's but basically I only use the
harddrive.

It does a lot of other things like allowing editing of the show, to
remove commercials for example, but I don't do any of those things.
And it has a digital tuner (and analog, but that won't work anymore)

But it has logic weaknesses. At the end of recording somehing, it
turns off unless you stop it, even if it was on before it started
recordign. It doesn't allow you to play one recording after another
autmoatically, which is no big deal if your in the same room or the
same floor, but I'd like to be in the basement and have the thing play
one after anohter. They could update the firmware but it's been 3
years and htey haven't.

And on the recorded version, it gives the channel and the time, but
not the name of the program, which I think they could have done if
they'd tried.

These are not big things, but it would be nice if they woudl fix them.


Any info. would be greatly appreciated!


Thanks!

On 3/26/2010 12:03 PM, hr(bob) wrote:
On Mar 26, 10:48 am, 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!

Post in the Comcast group. Way mine are set up on converter boxes, I
can only tape channel I'm watching.
If you go all digital and HD you get what I think is called a DVR box
which allows recording one and watching another.
I don't have one but my son does and it works great and is easy to
use. As others mention, VCR's are becoming a thing of the past.
Also Comcast will give you free, two DTA boxes and you could set up on
another TV. WIll not get the premium or upper channels but won't cost
anything.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Actually, here in Naperville/Lisle IL area, you can get 3 boxes.
before paying an extra $2.00 per month that they told me it would
cost. I have one convertor on the living room tv, the output of the
box goes to the VCR and then into the tv thru the VCR. You can only
record what the Comcast box is outputting. I have the other two
convertors hooked up to two other TV sets in other parts of the
house. So, if you want to record something on the vcr, you set that
up in the living room and then go to other parts of the house to watch
another channel. WIth only two of us at home, that works out fine as
my wife watches in one room, I watch in another room, and the living
room watches/records whatever it is we want to record. My problem was
the signal strength from the cable was weak and whenever it rained,
the signal got so weak the convertors would not work. I complained
and Comcast finally replaced the cable from the pole to the house due
to a squirrel having eaten thru the cable insulation out near the pole
connection. Whenever it rained we lost the signal. Comcast was a
real pain to get to come out to fix things, they acted like I didn't
know what I was talking about, even though I had worked in the
electronics industry for more than 45 years and was head of an
international electronics engineering organization.

We have to pay for a third box, here in Northern Delaware. Guess it
depends where you live. Comcast can be frustrating to work with but I
just read the post of someones FIOS problems.

On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:42:23 -0400, mm
wrote:


Pal Plus by Dish Network sold and may still sell a digital conversion
box that could be programmed like a VCR to change stations at
scheduled times, so you can match up the stations on that with the
times your vcr goes on, and tape either off the air, or off the
digital cable signal (which as far as I know are the same format). The
input on your VCR would be channel 3 or 4, whichever you set as the
output for the digital conversion box.

BTW, even though this was sold by Dish Network, it works fine with
OTA, over the air, and afaict that was the major or only reason for
making it.

But otoh, isn't the digital signal that comes out of digital cable
electonically the same as what comes OTA? (The difference is that
cable is often compressed to save bandwidth, but OTA is the the entire
signal, never compressed.)

wrote in message
...
On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 17:35:37 -0400, George
wrote:

On 3/26/2010 10:55 AM, uncle K wrote:

"MICHELLE H." wrote in message
...

...............................
Does anyone know if there is a way around this?

That's a simple one. Dump Comcast and get Dish Network. More channels,
less $, less BS.

HTH,

Unc

Exactly, if you need to get a bunch of boxes might as well get them from
a satellite provider and pay less. Remember it wasn't that long ago that
the cable companies touted that you didn't need a box like those
satellite companies make you use?

When Comcast did that here, it was the tipping point for me. I figured
if I was going to have to have a box, they had eliminated the last
minor advantage they had over direcTV. The picture quality on DirecTV
is vastly superior, and I get a lot more channels fror less money.

I have the expanded basic. Bad enough they pulled channels off expanded
basic willy nilly and moved them to digital, but this nonsense is the final
straw for me too. The website basically says if you do nothing, you will
only have basic, which isn't a lot when you consider several of those
channels are Spanish speaking. I am going back to DirectTV which I had years
ago, but at that time no local channels, that is no longer an issue with
satellite, so good-bye Comcast! Overpriced and underserved.


Cheri

On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:42:23 -0400, mm
wrote:

On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:07:29 -0400, (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 forgot to deal with the issue of scrambling. But if they say you
can watch it with just a set-top box, then scramblign is probably not
an issue.

BTW, I odn't have cable, but I know there are ways around most of this
stuff.

The conversion to digital influences consumers to put more money into
Comcasts hands.
In order to easily record and watch two different channels like you
have been doing you must now rent one of Comscasts DVR's.

wrote:
On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:12:52 -0600, bud--
wrote:

MICHELLE H. wrote:
Hi everyone,


Thanks for all the helpful responses so far, I really do appreciate it!
Just so I understand this, let me ask something else. Unfortunately, I
don't have a newer TV with a "QAM" built in digital converter. But if I
did have one of those types of TVs, could I tape one channel through the
cable box, by using the RCA jacks plugged into the VCR, and then just
turn the TV to another channel and watch something else?

Your QAM tuner TV connected to cable can only watch channels that are
not scrambled. All the high channels (probably all that you asked about)
will be scrambled, so your QAM tuner also needs a cable card or the TV
needs to be fed by a converter. With a cable card you _may_ be able to
get 16:9 HD channels that you can't with the lower end (free) converters.

From reading this thread hopefully you know the right questions to ask
Comcast (if you call them to verify what appears here). Knowing the
questions is a real big part of getting the information you need.

Comcast usually doesn't scramble the basic cable channels, only the
ones you have to pay extra for.. At least that is the way it works
here.

That is the way works here (Minneapolis) now. I have a wide screen high
def TV. I have Comcast 2nd level of Basic (don't know if that makes any
sense in a different market). I can receive analog cable channels which
includes many of the cable networks. There are some digital high def
channels I could receive with my package, but I have to have a converter
or cable card (which my TV will use). Far as I know none are "open QAM".
Many, but not all of the digital channels, are high def duplicates of
the analog channels. Some are high def versions of local broadcast stations.

From what I have read, Comcast is getting hammered by dish sources
because Comcast does not have enough high def channels. Presumably
Comcast is at the bandwidth limit of the cable itself. Their fix is to
eliminate all but the bottom analog channels and use the bandwidth for
digital. One analog slot can provide more than one digital slot. And the
analog - digital duplication will end. As far as I know the whole
Comcast system is being changed in a staged installation. It is
currently being staged in my large metro area, but not Minneapolis yet.
It looks like, at least immediately, cable will not cost more. The
addition of digital channels is likely to take a little time.

The BEFORE and AFTER are a lot different. I believe the OP is heading
into the digital changeover.

Multiple sources say that after the changeover maybe 20 bottom end
channels will be analog and receivable by everyone. These will be mostly
local broadcast stations that can be received over the air. This service
may be mandated by the FCC. The rest of the offerings will be digital.
Digital will *all* be scrambled. You will need a converter or cable card
to watch. DVRs like Tivo have cable card built in or you can insert a
cable card. The cable cards in most areas _must_ be installed by a
Comcast service person ($16 here at present), and after the installation
there has to be an activation by Comcast. (The cable cards are the same
as a computer PCMCIA card.)

FAQs at the Comcast site include:
32. Will I need equipment if I have a digital TV with a QAM tuner?
At the completion of the digital upgrade, customers will need equipment
on all TVs to receive any channels above the Limited Basic level of
service—of course, this is now the case with most video providers,
including our satellite and phone competitors. We’re encouraging all
customers to avoid any service interruptions by installing and using the
equipment provided by Comcast or purchased from their electronics
retailer, like a TiVo or CableCardTM enabled device.
And:
37. What is digital encryption?
Digital encryption is a technology used to protect television
programming content from unauthorized viewing. Think of it as
“scrambling” the TV signal so that only customers that are authorized to
receive a channel can view it. To receive digitally encrypted signals,
customers need a digital device available through their service
provider, such as a digital transport adapter, Digital cable set top
box, or CableCardTM. All pay TV providers—cable, satellite and telco—are
contractually required by programmers to protect the content they
distribute from unauthorized reception.

Comcast for my system now (BEFORE) has 3 converters
Digital set top box - programmed channel changes, on-demand, ...
Digital adapter - simple version of the above
HD receiver

From this thread, the first two are likely to only feed an *analog*
signal out - not digital and not HD.
Not obvious what happens after the digital changeover
- 16:9 digital picture shows up as letterboxed 4:3 picture out of the
converter?
- Only 4:3 center of the 16:9 digital picture shows up out of the converter?
- These converters replaced by something else?
Comcast will probably provide 1 or more of these converters free after
the changeover.

As far as I know only the HD receiver or cable card will get me
widescreen and HD NOW. That will certainly be true after the changeover.

I have read that a cable card type technology was required by the FCC
and cable companies don't want it. Also read that the FCC sets a max fee
of $2 per month for a cable card (single card free here now).

IMHO information from Comcast sucks. I got the above from looking at a
lot of different sources.


Is anyone in an area that has had the digital changeover?

On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 07:55:51 -0700, "uncle K" wrote:


"MICHELLE H." wrote in message
...

...............................
Does anyone know if there is a way around this?

That's a simple one. Dump Comcast and get Dish Network. More channels,
less $, less BS.

HTH,

Unc

And NO channels available without one of their receivers. That's like
cable, but worse.

On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 17:35:37 -0400, George
wrote:

On 3/26/2010 10:55 AM, uncle K wrote:

"MICHELLE H." wrote in message
...

...............................
Does anyone know if there is a way around this?

That's a simple one. Dump Comcast and get Dish Network. More channels,
less $, less BS.

HTH,

Unc

Exactly, if you need to get a bunch of boxes might as well get them from
a satellite provider and pay less. Remember it wasn't that long ago that
the cable companies touted that you didn't need a box like those
satellite companies make you use?

I used to have DirecTV. I changed to cable over a year ago. One reason
being the poor quality of DirecTV customer service.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in
praise of intelligence." -- Bertrand Russell

Sam E wrote:
On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 07:55:51 -0700, "uncle K" wrote:

"MICHELLE H." wrote in message
...

...............................
Does anyone know if there is a way around this?
That's a simple one. Dump Comcast and get Dish Network. More channels,
less $, less BS.

HTH,

Unc

And NO channels available without one of their receivers. That's like
cable, but worse.

Sure there are. Use an antenna, and a converter box if needed. More
locals and better quality on those channels, than cable OR dish.

--
aem sends...

DISH was a excellent choice up till feb 1st

They increased extra receiver fees dramatically, from 5 bucks to 17
bucks for some dual tuner DVR boxes, and added a 6 buck a month DVR
fee per account. Which was previously FREE, with americas everyting
pack.

my bill went up about 30 bucks per month.

I dropped packages and shut down a extra receiver.

On the principal of the thing I am shopping for a new provider.....

DISH USED THE GOUGE TOOL ON THEIR BEST SUBSCRIBERS, I have had them
for 13 years.

On a brite note I am looking to buy DVDs of some of my favorite shows
from the higher tier packages.

We are spending way too much on tv

wrote:
DISH was a excellent choice up till feb 1st

They increased extra receiver fees dramatically, from 5 bucks to 17
bucks for some dual tuner DVR boxes, and added a 6 buck a month DVR
fee per account. Which was previously FREE, with americas everyting
pack.

my bill went up about 30 bucks per month.

I dropped packages and shut down a extra receiver.

On the principal of the thing I am shopping for a new provider.....

DISH USED THE GOUGE TOOL ON THEIR BEST SUBSCRIBERS, I have had them
for 13 years.

On a brite note I am looking to buy DVDs of some of my favorite shows
from the higher tier packages.

We are spending way too much on tv

Rueful chuckle- amen brother to that. Remember when TV was free? Sure,
it was only 8-10 channels, but there are only 8-10 on Dish that are of
any use to me anyway. If History and Discovery and a few others were
available OTA, I'd drop Dish in a heartbeat. I guess the ~2 bucks a day
I spend on Dish are cheaper than a lot of my other bad habits. (Like
usenet...)

--
aem sends...

"aemeijers" wrote in message ...
wrote:
DISH was a excellent choice up till feb 1st

They increased extra receiver fees dramatically, from 5 bucks to 17
bucks for some dual tuner DVR boxes, and added a 6 buck a month DVR
fee per account. Which was previously FREE, with americas everyting
pack.

my bill went up about 30 bucks per month.

I dropped packages and shut down a extra receiver.

On the principal of the thing I am shopping for a new provider.....

DISH USED THE GOUGE TOOL ON THEIR BEST SUBSCRIBERS, I have had them
for 13 years.

On a brite note I am looking to buy DVDs of some of my favorite shows
from the higher tier packages.

We are spending way too much on tv

Rueful chuckle- amen brother to that. Remember when TV was free? Sure,
it was only 8-10 channels, but there are only 8-10 on Dish that are of
any use to me anyway. If History and Discovery and a few others were
available OTA, I'd drop Dish in a heartbeat. I guess the ~2 bucks a day
I spend on Dish are cheaper than a lot of my other bad habits. (Like
usenet...)

Have you seen a TV Guide for the 1970's or 80's? There was
more to watch on those 8-10 channels than on a typical "basic
cable" lineup of 60-80 channels. In fact most nights we wind up
watching classic episodes of Hawaii Five-O, Mission Impossible
etc. on DVD, cable is reserved for MLB games and little else.

aemeijers wrote:

-snip-
Rueful chuckle- amen brother to that. Remember when TV was free? Sure,
it was only 8-10 channels, but there are only 8-10 on Dish that are of
any use to me anyway.

8-10? We had 2-3. Now I have a few hundred-- and watch 2-3 for
the most part.g

-snip-
I spend on Dish are cheaper than a lot of my other bad habits. (Like
usenet...)

On both TV & Usenet- aside from the entertainment value, every once &
a while a gem comes along and makes it all worthwhile.

Jim

On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:07:29 -0400, (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!

Very strange. I can not get any analog programs at all since last
year. The VCR is only good for playing tapes, but I can easily record
high-def TV programs to the PC hard drive using a Hauppenpauge TV
card, then watch it or burn a DVD. If you have a card with more than
one tuner, you can watch one program on channel 5 at the same time
while recording channel 8.

Comcast may scramble the your signal requiring you to buy their
recording service for a monthly fee (possibly there is a hack for
descrambling). Any new TV tuner should be digital ready. Cable can
be way overpriced, depending on your local competition.

On Mar 27, 5:21*pm, Sam E wrote:
On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 07:55:51 -0700, "uncle K" wrote:

"MICHELLE H." wrote in message
...

...............................
Does anyone know if there is a way around this?

That's a simple one. *Dump Comcast and get Dish Network. *More channels,
less $, less BS.

HTH,

Unc

And NO channels available without one of their receivers. That's like
cable, but worse.

Funny, that's what I was thinking too. Unless there is something I'm
missing, you still need a box to decode satellite too.

On Sun, 28 Mar 2010 10:17:55 -0400, wrote:

Have you looked into internet TV outlets like HULU.COM?
They have a lot of those old TV shows for free along with a lot of
current TV. I really think the biggest change in TV will be internet
delivery.

From another group:

_120+ Sites to watch TV online_

http://blog.unixmen.com/2009/12/120-...tv-online.html

Oren wrote:
On Sun, 28 Mar 2010 10:17:55 -0400, wrote:

Have you looked into internet TV outlets like HULU.COM?
They have a lot of those old TV shows for free along with a lot of
current TV. I really think the biggest change in TV will be internet
delivery.

From another group:

_120+ Sites to watch TV online_

http://blog.unixmen.com/2009/12/120-...tv-online.html


As a TV, a computer makes a pretty good computer. Yeah, I know, you can
plumb it all together, and pipe it up to the real television- yada yada
yada. I don't wanna buy another X hundred dollars worth of crap and
figure out how to wire it and operate it, and figure it out when it
stops working correctly- I just wanna lay on the couch and watch TV.
They have taken that away from me with the near-demise of OTA television
and simple analog cable, and I am still ****ed about it. If you can't
pull it off a roof antenna, you should at least be able to run 1 damn
wire from the wall outlet to the television, no stupid boxes or special
tuner cards, and plug it up and watch it that way. The satt or cable
system should present a feed to the TV that looks just like an OTA
antenna, IMHO.

You damn kids get offa my lawn!

--
aem sends, crankily....