Comcast HDTV constantly pixelated (Alexandria, VA)

Sherri C,

Thank you for your response. I have just e-mailed you with the information you requested at the e-mail address you specified. I have given you contact information as well. I'll look forward to speaking with you very soon.

I have had a terrible time on CBS-HD today during college basketball shows the entire afternoon. The same went for my recording of Saturday Night Live from the night before on NBC-HD.

Thank you very much and hope to hear from you soon

This issue started for me in Old Town Alexandria a few weeks ago. I first started to notice it a little bit during primetime HD shows on NBC primarily. It has also happened occasionally on FLN digital (non-HD) but only once. I have two CableCard Tivos (one Series 3 and one TivoHD), as well as a HD Tuner LCD tv without DVR. This issue has occured at the EXACT same time on every device, and on the DVRs, the pixelation is in the recording. After speaking with my neighbors who are Comcast subscribers, they are experiencing the same pixelation and choppy sound. From time to time, it even looks like the picture freezes, sound continues, pixelation and choppiness occurs, then the picture appears to speed up to catch back up to where it should be. This is not isolated to my home and appears to be an issue with multiple services. I especially noticed it tonight during The Office and the Parks & Recreation premiere. The Office was barely watchable.

Also, I live in a single family home, the incoming cable was recently upgraded to ensure my business class cable internet was up to snuff, the cable runs through an amplifier and makes all home runs to a network/ctv hub in the basement from the devices, and everything worked just fine for the last 6 years, with various equipement, both Tivo and Comcast DVR, for the duration, and current Tivos worked fine for 2 years, this issue just started.

I am also a computer programmer, in IT hardware support, previously worked in networking and cable television infrastructure support, and I know what I am doing. This isn't a case of stupidity.

After reading Alex's post, I wanted to post my experiences so far on this ongoing issue.

First off, Alex, I experienced the exact same problems you did last night. The pixelation made The Office (both episodes) and the Parks & Recreation episode completely unwatchable. It was fine for 5-10 seconds at a time, and then there would be 10-20 second gaps where the pixelation was unbearable. It even happened to me on the SD version of NBC as well. As I've mentioned, this really seems to happen to appear during heavy-utilization windows (i.e. nights during popular shows).

After making initial contact with Scherri C. on this thread, I received a phone call from a Comcast representative to schedule a visit from a technician. The technician showed up on Friday, March 20th 2009 and went through some troubleshooting steps. I have a 3-way splitter installed in my house where my incoming coax cable enters my condominium. He replaced the splitter and made sure that my Cable Box was placed on the lowest-loss leg. He also checked the tap outside of my condo where others pick up their Comcast connection. He said that there were issues at the tap and it would need to be serviced, but that would take a few days to happen.

I let things go for a few weeks and for the most part, the pixelation had stopped. I'm very appreciative for that. I wanted to call back to the Comcast representative who worked with me to schedule the technician to arrive just to follow-up and verify that the work was performed at the tap. Then last night's pixelation showed up, so I called and left a voicemail outlining the recurrence of the pixelation. I will call back again today if I don't hear back.

Like you Alex, I'm also in IT (network/systems) so I feel like I have a good grasp of what's going on. I hope that I will be able to post new information on my case in the coming days.

I have been having the exact same problem especially with NBC on the past 2 thursday nights and I live in Chicago. It appears to be a larger Comcast issue rather than our own individual situations. I have my cable split to a Comcast DVR and a HD Tivo. These past two Thursdays, my Tivo had so much pixelation I couldn't watch it, yet, my Comcast DVR was fine. Then, on Sunday, the Masters on CBS, was unwatchable on my Comcast DVR but okay (with minor pixelation) on my HD Tivo.

I have also had the exact same problem over the past couple of weeks in Alexandria, VA, mainly on NBC. The Office and P&R were completely unwatchable, while Survivor recorded at the same time with nary a problem. A Comcast tech came yesterday, tested my signal and told me nothing was wrong, but again last night, the Apprentice pixelated throughout the entire episode. So frustrating!

I've had this same problem for over a year now in the Chicago area. I've had 3 service techs come and check my equipment at home and they all said the problem was at the 'node' or tap. This would require a special service request and would only be done if enough people complained. I have given up calling and complaining every time because it will always be the same solution: send a technician to check my equipment at home. I simply don't have the time to wait for numerous technicians to come to my house and re-check my equipment only to tell me that the problem lies outside my house or at the tap. I even contacted the Regional Manager and was told that the service was scheduled, but it wasn't done.

Comcast just will not get this problem fixed. It seems that it is less costly to keep sending technicians over to check the equipment inside the homes than to fix the problem at the tap. Please post if your issue gets resolved, but I will be surprised if it gets done soon. As I've said, it has been over a year for me now.

I will mentioned that on occasion Comcast offered to give me credit on my bill for this inconvenience. But I don't want to nickel and dime my way through this issue. Just give me the service that I'm paying for.

We have that Issue in parkfairfax, but we also have random channels go out! And we call and they say power is ar 50% and the first thry can send a rep out is a week away, so I wound have tv for a week. And every time a rep comes amazingly we suddenly have all our stuff back.

Comcast is really starting to piss me off I cant waste for Fios to cover all of parkfairfax.

Comcast tries squeezing 3 channels into a signal that usually fits 2 channels. I am not sure as to the technical parts of this, but this is the reason for the degradation. Compared to FIOS who does not compress theeir channels like this, the picture difference is pretty ridiculous. Just another way for Comcast to save some money and rip us off.

May 11, 2009: I've had this problem for over six months; it comes and goes. Never happens during the times that a technician is at my house. CBSHD is a problem as is USAHD; though this weekend every channel from 101 on up was pixelating and freezing. In December of last year the line techs found a signal problem for the whole area. I live in the Fort Myers Comcast market. This is not an isolated problem, but seems to be an ongoing problem in all Comcast markets.

Me too! Aurora, Colorado. And I go to school online so I don't want to switch right now, but I guess I'm going to have to. I'm tired of paying ridiculous prices for useless junk and bad service! If we all cancelled our service, perhaps they would get the point.

I just purchased my HDTV and Comcast installed the HD service on Monday. The pixelation is very annoying and takes the joy from watching television. I live in a condominium in Alexandria, VA. When I mentioned it to the installer, he just said "pixelation" and shrugged his shoulders! That shoulder shrug did not take care of the problem.

Sam, I'd like to know if Comcast did anything to correct your problem. This is so frustrating! I don't want to get caught up in taking time from work to wait on a service person to show up, especially if they are all shruggers.

All are reporting the same issues, same experiences with Comcast, and same difficult situations. I, for one, will be switching to FIOS the day it becomes available in Old Town. That may be a long day away, but it will happen.

Everyone, thanks for your responses. I guess I'll keep calling but like most people, I can't sit home waiting on a service person to show up. I'd love to have FIOS but doubt it will make its way to my neighborhood anytime soon.

YES! I am in Stafford and we have had Comcast out to our home 3 times now. I know of several other people experiencing the same thing and Comcast simply refuses to do anything about it.

Same issue picked up really bad on Thursday, Oct 22nd. So bad all primetime shows on network television were unwatchable. I ended up watching all of the shows on Hulu, thanks Comcast.

Just called Comcast, told them it was not an issue within the house but with our whole block/neighborhood. Everyone experiencing the same pixelation and artifacts at the same time, and have been since last Thursday. First available appt was not until Thursday, 4 days from now, AND, I would need to be home for the appointment for some reason. Not sure why when it is an issue with the signal and nothing in my house. WTF Comcrap?