Comcast cable and the Feb 2009 digital TV switch over

Talked with Robin at Comcast 8/13/09, and after persistent questioning, she admitted what we all know - that the purpose behind pushing us into the cable box requirement for every tv in your house is to enable purchasing of premium content and/or impulse (pay-per-view) buying. She also pointed out that all of the other providers (satellite, fios, etc) require boxes anyway. She also said that by 2010 there will be nothing other than local channels available without the box. Fine, whatever. A few points:

1. We were mislead by the whole DTV transition propaganda by the implication that a new TV with ATSC/Clear Qam would be able to receive all non-scrambled content. True, unless it's all been removed. A new tv with all the tuners is no better than the one you replaced as far as channels are concerned. If your tv gets channel 3/4 and you are on comcast, you won't need the rest. But hey, the economy got a big boost from the sales of over-qualified TV's. Thanks for doing your part!

2. The cable card myth. I was told spitefully that I could junk my new tv and get one with a cable card tuner. Google cable-card TVs and let me know how that works for you!

3. Did you do a nice install of your shiny new flat panel? OK, now hang a cable box on it!

4. More remotes. I was told that the comcast remote would be all I'd need and I wouldn't need the tv remote. Uh, anyone out there ever use a universal remote? Works fine as long as you only need power, volume or channel. Let's go wading through your tv's menus to change color, hue, aspect ratios etc with the comcast remote - not gonna happen.

5. For every analog channel they remove, they gain 5-10 digital channels depending on compression. You'd think they could at least give us back digitally the channel they "stole" while keeping the rest for themselves?

6. Cable could promote the fact that they are the only providers capable of basic cable content WITHOUT the need for additional equipment but that would only make sense.

7. We are all told to screw in spiral light bulbs by the government because of the energy savings involved. (every little bit helps) I wonder what the idle wattage of your friendly cable box is? Times every TV in every comcast connected home? Oops!

The FCC doesn't care if it's not over the air. Your elected representatives are clueless, but contact them anyway - feel free to cut and paste.

I have seen class-action suits succeed with far less affected consumers involved. Any attorneys out there looking for some work?

I'm not sure if this is kosher or not to but I'm posting it anyway.

After the large bank of cable channels 35-66, were taken off the air for all limited basic cable users in my area, I started to look up alternative methods to get streaming video from my PC to my tv. I already have a Xbox360 with Netflix but I wanted Hulu on there also.

So here a few sites to look into if you have an Xbox360 and Win PC.
http://www.themediamall.com/playon
http://tversity.com/

Also check out http://lifehacker.com/ for different alternatives or how-to steps for setting these applications up. I'm not sure if there a app for Macs or not.

The main thing that is holding me up with this set up is my old router and upgrading my DSL.

Plus if already have Netflix and a Xbox360, the new Netflix upgrade on there is pretty nice.

There is one other thing I wanted to look up sometime. I have 2 extra tvs, and wondered if there is some attachment to get them hooked up with my PC also.

I hope this helps some people looking for an alternative from cable.

Doug M summed it up pretty good. I got a different answer from my
Comcast office here in Spokane.

After chewing out the first rep for being rude (did they forget the definition of customer service?) I asked for the manager. When I explained to him how I lost my upper channels on the two new tv's we bought in prep for this transition, he explained the whole encryption thing. I asked why the encryption. This was his answer.

He said that basic, basic cable subscribers were getting the expanded basic digital channels for free with the new tv's. Comcasts solution. Encryption and all the little ugly boxes. I tried to explain to him how they were punishing all their customers for Comcasts own problem. He told me that that is just the way it is. Unbelievable. They could care less. I had read that only 10% of Comcasts customers were expanded basic so I guess it should have been no surprise.

I told him I had been a loyal customer since 2007 and it was now time to move on. He offered to lower my bill by $20 a month for six months and was sending out 4 more DTA's for the tv's that weren't covered by the transitions 3 free boxes (7 tv's, big house, don't ask). Of course, in six months the bill goes up $20 plus another $8 for the additional DTA's.

I look at it like this. I have 6 months to find another provider.

I live in the SF Bay Area and lost the "upper" channels a few weeks ago.
There is more information available at this Comcast site:

http://www.comcast.com/digitalnow/

The take home message is that I ordered a "digital transport adapter" (FREE w/free shipping and no extra monthly charge if I read everything correctly) for the TV that is currently connected directly to the cable.

They explain it is *NOT* a regular set-top box (no On Demand, no other menus), and although it's an extra box, it sounds like what many people above in this thread are looking for?

kasmicb: that's exactly what many of us are complaining about. Comcast is basically disabling the analog channel feeds we had, and then scrambling the digital channels and requiring us to use their box to descramble them. Not good, as many of us use other devices, like Tivos, in the mix.

I hate their tuners!!! I like to surf and i spend more time looking at a black screen than the picture. Comcast cares, is that some kind of joke? On the plus side, I have great reception and fast internet. I just don't like them forcing me to rent products that are far inferior to the products that I already own!

I received the Comcast flyer in the mail. "DTA Boxes required for comcast customers if you want to receive local channels" I ordered the boxes online for the (4) TV's in our home. Two are free, the other (2) $1.99 per month. I spent 1/2 a day on Saturday setting up the boxes, activating each box by running around my home to each TV while on the phone with Comcast, then spent more time programming each remote. I didn't even bother with the DVD/XBox set up. All TV's worked fine for about 1 week. Then, "Comcast has detected an interruption in service, please call Comcast" appears on all our TV screens. After calling and being told the boxes were never activated, I run around the house again to each TV while on the phone with Comcast. The TV's finally work, but as soon as I get off the phone our internet doesn't. I call Comcast again, they now need a tech to come out. They install another box to our computer using more energy as the DTA boxes. Another week goes by. Another interruption in service, I am forced to call again. Unsurprising I am told the same thing, the boxes were never activated to our account. Again, I ran around the house to each box while on the phone with Comcast. Comcast customer service assured me, the boxes were permenantly activated and this problem should not occur again. Well, guess what happened yesterday, no service due to interruption!! I want an explaination as to why this keeps happening.

Off with their heads!

Comcast doesn't care about their customers, who are they fooling? And the alternative companies aren't any better. But, in 2004 and 2007, the American Customer Satisfaction Index survey revealed that Comcast had the absolute worst customer satisfaction rating of any company or government agency in the United States, including that of the Internal Revenue Service.
It's all about the mighty dollar and how many ways they can steal it from us. They use psychology to calm the mass hysteria they cause as they drain us like leeches. Let's face it, we are all addicted to television, and they know it. They're no better than drug dealers and pimps. They have us by the balls. The only power we have is whatever resolve we can muster up to shut them off and stop giving them our money. These huge corporations play games with our lives and we allow it. So maybe in the grand scheme of things we are getting what we deserve because for some odd reason so many of us are willing to fork over HUGE sums of cash for mostly junk. Let’s face it, we really only watch an infinitesimal portion of what they feed us. If we bought our food the same way we purchase our television programs, grocery stores would fill our carts with hundreds of other junk products we’d never use, and then turn around and charge us for it. Not only do we pay exorbitant prices, but we are also forced to endure vast spans of commercial advertising. It’s extortion plan and simple.
Ultimately, power rests with those who can control and focus it effectively. Consumers have the greatest potential power but lack the ability to focus it constructively. And so, against companies such as Comcast, who are specifically designed and organized to focus power, consumers are easily pushed around, forced to abide by the standards THEY set, which is dictated by their greed.
One could say that I haven’t made the full argument because I failed to complete the links that bring the blame for this problem full circle to the consumer. Companies such as Comcast have shareholders. So let’s face facts, many of those shareholders are also consumers who expect their stocks to rise. One way to increase profits is to raise prices. So whose greed is it really? Do we blame the employees for making too much money? Do we blame the shareholders for expecting to much profit? Or do we blame the consumers for not willing to spend enough of their hard earned money on the product? If one thing stands out in this ridiculous enigma, it’s that no one group is the clear culprit. If a company is making too much money from high prices and low wages, (excluding the C.E.O. and high paid executives) then the shareholders are happy but the consumers and employees aren’t. If the company isn’t making enough money because their prices are too low, then the shareholders and employees aren’t happy, but the consumer is. And since we aren’t exactly talking about healthcare here, it seems the consumer will likely get the short end of the stick, along with the average employee; not unless the consumers unite under a consumer advocacy group.

I have called Comcast at least 6 times asking what I thought was a simple question yet I received many answers. I hooked up the DTA (Digiital Transport Adapter) box on my TV. I used the TV controler to put the Tv on channell 3 and then I was told to put the TV controller away and use the controller that came with the DTA box. Problem, when you use the DTA controller the stations that are blocked on the TV now show. There is no "Menu" button on the new DTA controller to program "Parental Control" and Comcast said there is NO V-Chip in the new DTAdapter. I don't allow my chidren to watch MTV, Jerry Springer, Comedy Central etc, and now if I want the Disney Channel, syfi and others, which I'm paying for I can't have them unles the new DTAdapetr can block certain stations.
What am I missing here? No V-Chip or Parental Contol availabliity with the new Digital Transport Adapter??
Is this true??