ComCast stopping analog delivery - Videokarma.org TV - Video

Richard D · #1 05-13-2007, 08:06 PM

I received notice this week that ComCast will stop all analog service later this year. The first set top convertor will be free, for each one after that is $6.85 per month. Right now I have 5 analog sets in use. I will replace my rear projection analog CRT when it needs a big repair with an HD digital set. Spending twenty bucks a month for the other analogs rubs me the wrong way. I wonder if direct satt. with multiple receivers might be better? HURUMPH!

Anybody else get similar notices?
Richard.

andy · #2 05-13-2007, 08:37 PM

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Richard D · #3 05-13-2007, 08:46 PM

I guess they have to pay for those cute turtle commercials some how!

Bill R · #4 05-13-2007, 11:04 PM

And to think market hype said cable and sat viewers would not be affected by the switch. Why am I not surprised?

Einar72 · #5 05-13-2007, 11:11 PM

I'm calling The Slowskys!!!

markthefixer · #6 05-13-2007, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill R

And to think market hype said cable and sat viewers would not be affected by the switch. Why am I not surprised?

It won't, it's a completely independent action by the (unprintable) (unprintable) (unprintable) (unprintable) cable companies, THEY too want to squeeze more $$ and bandwith out of the wire....

I hate THEM as much as used car salesmen, the phone company and Quentin Tarantino, with the electric company jockeying for place in the pack...

oldtvman · #7 05-14-2007, 06:32 AM

I don't know about cable in your areas but mentioning cable and digital to is like reviving the cbs color system to receive HDTV. The picture quality on a digital set with cable makes many question whether the set is working properly with the smeary pictures and noise.

Dave S · #8 05-14-2007, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markthefixer

I hate THEM as much as used car salesmen, the phone company and Quentin Tarantino, with the electric company jockeying for place in the pack...

Didn't you forget the oil companies there too?

Richard D · #9 05-14-2007, 09:02 AM

After I received the "exciting" news from Comcast I called to verify the greed, no, I mean the service and after confirming it was true I suggested that before Comcast tries the "new & exciting" change to all digital that they should spend less money begging for my data service and attempt to provide 31 days of high quality, no herringbone or grainy picture basic cable without service interuptions. I received a nice email thanking me for my "helpfull" suggestions.
Richard.

3Guncolor · #10 05-14-2007, 10:11 AM

This change will happen everywhere some sooner then others. If there are no over the air analog signals after the cut off why should a cable company use all the space so cable ready sets can still be used without a box. Analog NTSC is on it's death bed. Customers want more HD channels so the space has to come from somewhere. The larger systems already have all the channels digital so most customers won't notice the change. It is possible to hook more then one set up to a box the only problem is if you watch more then one channel at the same time.

Ultra-Hog · #11 05-14-2007, 10:15 AM

The day that Comcast

switches basic analog cable service off is the day that I switch them off and go with satellite based TV. If I have to have a set-top box for every television in the house it may as well be a satellite box.

I am sure that I won't be alone.

Steve McVoy · #12 05-14-2007, 11:34 AM

I have cable service (Time Warner) at my main residence, and satellite (DirecTV) at my second home, and I would take cable over satelite any time. With cable I get video on demand, real impulse pay per view, high speed internet that is really fast and reliable (unlike DSL), and a set top box with a channel lineup that makes sense, unlike the satelite lineup that has dozens of blank and promotional channels interspersed with the real channels. If cable was available at my second home, I'd switch in a minute.

Richard D · #13 05-14-2007, 04:16 PM

Here in the Pinecrest area of Miami the DSL service is far better as far as outages than the high speed data service offered by cable. Neighbors who have cable data service have several outages a month. I guess it depends on the luck of the draw and where you live as to service quality.

JohnAdams · #14 05-14-2007, 05:39 PM

I have 3 sets and a HDVR in daily use and only one digital HD box. This will not make me happy. The 70 analog channels with no box is the big reason I have Comcast in this house. I do have Dish in home #2 but only have 2 boxes feeding 4 sets and a VCR and that works out ok. I just recently saw an X-10 for a rebroadcast system to send 1 box anywhere in the house. I see a way to have just the HD box and one regular box that will send it's RF out to the other tv's in the house using the existing coax.

ohohyodafarted · #15 05-15-2007, 05:19 PM

AS I see it the big issue here is not Analog vs Digital, but the Bandwidth. The satelite and cable providers all want to provide more bang for the buck on existing available bandwidth.

I understand the conversion from analog to digital. However the real issue is the amount of compression beng used. The more the head end compresses, the lousier the picture becomes, but the tradeoff is that the cable provider is able to offer more chanels int he same amount of bandwidth.

Moving to digital is a good thing, but too much compression for the sake of craming an unrealistic number of chanels into a given bandwidth, is a bad thing.

I have an old style 10 foot c-band dish. The picture quality generally much better than the little dishes (Dish and DirectTv). However depending on what chanel I am watching, I may have low amounts of compression or high amounts. Last night I watched a movie tha was so badly compressed that the images were wavering and out of phase not to mention the poor resolution. It was a digital signal, but so highly compressed that the picture quality sucked big time. By the same token, I get the primary signal of Discovery HD theater, and that picture is second to none.

Over the air network digital transmitions from the major networks can be fantastic. Many of the prime time shows, and sporting events are now in HD. Tonight Show is great every night. Golf on tv is unbelievable, when the shots are done from a stationery HD camera, but the hand held cameras used by the camera men that walk around usually are of much poorer quality. HD is stil in its early stages. Just because you are watching a "HD" transmission dosent mean your will halways have a HD quality picture.

And of course Digital does not mean HD in any way, shape or form.

But back to my big dish. I get hundreds of chanels, both east coast and west coast feeds. I subscribe to all the premium chanels, HBO, Showtime, Stars, Cinemax, The Move Chanel, Flix, Sundance, Encore etc, and dozens of the usual basic package chanels that you normally expect on your cable or small dish. The difference is that my cost is about %30 less than cable or the small dish.

My annual subrscription is only about $750 (62.50/month) Warner cable wanted over $95/month for the same amount of programming. For me, at least, this ist he best way to get my television. There are some inconveniences, like being able to only watch this on 1 set at a time, but for our home that works very well.