USA Hardware Confusion -- Should/Can I Go HD?

[bordr415]

Sure they can they're "Comcast"! I would double check your info from Comcast. They told me the exact same thing and guess what they were wrong. If you subscribe and channels 31 and up you have hd going to your home.

About 6 months ago I ran into the same thing as you. Then one day I was installing a new TV in a bar (that's my job - telecomunications / not the bar) and it was rec hd channels. I went home and enabled the digital tuner on my tv and I had it. Called up a couple buddies that are in the same line of work and they told me what I told you above. They also said that since HD was available in the Tacoma area its been like that. Comcast says you cant and that you don't unlesss you pay them but you do.

Just my 2 cents worth.

PS Right now I only pay for std cable (no hd, no box, nothing else) and I get 36 HD channels.

[chewy747]

is there any difference in this hvr1600?

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDe...#prodspecs

it seems like a low price, i dont want to buy the wrong item thinking it was something else

[carpeVideo]

Is anyone have success using firestb to transfer videos or is it only working well for changing channels. I tried for an hour on the weekend and only had success transfering one pixelated segment.

Martin

I use graphRecorder with a simple graph to record enencrypted channels via firewire.

[Pilot]

Sure they can they're "Comcast"! I would double check your info from Comcast. They told me the exact same thing and guess what they were wrong. If you subscribe and channels 31 and up you have hd going to your home.

About 6 months ago I ran into the same thing as you. Then one day I was installing a new TV in a bar (that's my job - telecomunications / not the bar) and it was rec hd channels. I went home and enabled the digital tuner on my tv and I had it. Called up a couple buddies that are in the same line of work and they told me what I told you above. They also said that since HD was available in the Tacoma area its been like that. Comcast says you cant and that you don't unlesss you pay them but you do.

Just my 2 cents worth.

PS Right now I only pay for std cable (no hd, no box, nothing else) and I get 36 HD channels.

I've read this elsewhere, too, but that's not the case where I live. You don't get ANYTHING but basic cable when that's all you order...period. I have four HDTVs which all picked up the QAM cable broadcasts at my previous home, but now that I have Comcrap we just get basic cable on every HDTV that isn't hooked up to the one HD STB we were willing to pay for. Trust me -- every time I read something like this reported by other Comcrap customers, I immediately try to re-scan/tune each HDTV in my house. I still get nothing but basic, low res cable. I don't even get SD channels -- definitely don't get HD.

Comcast has a pure 100% monopoly in my new neighborhood, as AT&T was only asked to run phone lines. When AT&T insisted on being able to offer their full multi-media spectrum in this neighborhood/city (yes, eventually it's going to be a city all its own), they were told no by the overall developer so AT&T refused to run anything then. So now we're stuck with Comcast for cable, internet, and even phone. No, Comcast Digital Voice phone service isn't "Comcastic" -- it's Sucktastic, and when it goes down (frequently) so does our access to 911 for emergencies and it takes down the internet connection with it (even though Comcast repeatedly insists that it's not an internet based phone service). The only good in this? Rumor has it that for years now Comcast has been filtering/limiting torrent traffic. Well, that hasn't hit here yet, as I do get blazingly fast torrent downloads, which has been some consolation for their lousy HD cable offerings because I've just been waiting a day and downloading our shows via bittorrent in HD.

Just because you again raised my false hopes, I'm going to re-scan for HD on all my TVs, but I'm willing to bet a HD PVR that Comcrap is still just providing the very basic cable offerings.

[TonyXL]

If the STB has a firewire port, try carpeVideo's suggestion. Hopefully the HD locals are not 5C encrypted. It's not as ideal as straight QAM since you have to go thru the STB, but you're still getting the raw MPEG-2 stream.

Although if Comcast isn't delivering the channels on clear QAM, they may be 5C encryping them as well.