Comcast S**ks

[nightwalker]

This isn't really a question, just a vent.

After being forced into going digital with Comcast, after they assured me 3 months ago that it wouldn't happen. I called them, got a STB and 3 DTA's. They assured me that was what I needed. I asked about my TV tuner cards and they again assured me that as long as they were digital and able to receive clear QAM channels that I would be covered.

So I bought two new tuner cards that receive digital and QAM, one new TV with a digital + QAM tuner and was happy as a clam thinking I was ready for their switchover. WRONG!!

They made the switch yesterday and my Two new Digital tuners and the new TV lost about half the channels it had, including the channels they told me would be available as clear QAM. I just get a picture of a Comcast box with a note telling me I'll be needing a STB to receive these channels.

I do get a lot of clear QAM channels, if you can call them that. 5 Spanish language channels. 4 history channels. 8 shopping channels. and more than a few duplicates of local network channels, none of it do I really care about.

After a call to Comcast this morning and talking to 3 different people and getting two different answers it seems like not all the channels on the basic/standard tier will be broadcast in clear QAM, unlike what I was told. Can you say pi**ed.

The end result is Verizon will be here Monday to install FIOS TV and I can kick Comcast to the curb, this was the absolute last straw with them.

Anyway, thanks for reading or not, but I feel better anyway!

[pcostanza]

I haven't heard anything good with Comcast in quite a while. I pick on Cox but they're sticking to basic analog for 2-3 years. They don't offer much in QAM other than the local channels and some junk like you have.
I get most of my HD from cable card tuners (need to use Media Center) but even their life is in doubt for the near future.
Who knows what the future holds but more trouble to go along with the higher cost. I wish I had the option for FIOS in my area. We're fiber to the street only. From the street to the house is still cable.

[gregthebunny]

Comcast is full of shady practices. Of course they'll only give you clear QAM channels that no one has any interest in. All the good channels are encrypted, even though they're still "basic" digital cable.

[soccerdad]

Time Warner is not much better. I only get 4 clear QAM channels and they love to change channel locations on them at random. I only find out about it after I fail a recording. I am going to look at OTA antennas this weekend and only use cable for watching live TV.

[nightwalker]

I wish I could say that FIOS was going to be better but I expect pretty much the same type of service from them. From what I can tell they have only 3 or 4 local network channels in the clear, so I'm not expecting anything from them. I just refuse to give Comcast any more of my money.

I ordered 3 STB's from verizon, one for me, one for the wife and one for GB-PVR and I'll just stream them to each tv. The cost for Just the boxes, so I can watch their service is 6.99 each, per month. That all by it self is more than TV is worth.

If Verizon doesn't work out I'll just go back to putting a big ole antenna on the roof and just get what I can from that, it's not like there is much on anyway. I'm down to recording maybe 4 programs a week as it is. I will however miss my fox news, maybe I can stream that off the net or something.

[toboR]

...as a long-time Comcast customer. Our switchover will be at the end of next month.

I'm grateful that I have Hulu.

tobor

[Satori]

I got rid of dish NW because GBPVR with OTA ATSC has been so good. I only ever watched local programming anyway and now it is all in HD.

Between that and Hulu (via a custom task that runs Hulu Desktop) I have all the TV I need.

Get rid of cable if you can!

[El Cid]

If Verizon doesn't work out I'll just go back to putting a big ole antenna on the roof and just get what I can from that, it's not like there is much on anyway. I'm down to recording maybe 4 programs a week as it is. I will however miss my fox news, maybe I can stream that off the net or something.

nightwalker,

By sheer chance I stumbled onto the following webpage this week:

http://www.foxnews.ws/

If you poke around the site the whole thing looks kind of fishy and mysterious, :confused: but at least for now they seem to be feeding the FNC stream live. Wonder how one would go about scheduling a 2 AM recording of Glenn Beck off this onto the computer?! But I also wonder how legit this site is, as there seems to be so little actual information on their pages.

[nightwalker]

That's pretty cool. I agree with you it is a bit sparse on the info and doesn't look at all like the official fox news website.

I have Verizon working really well so I'm good for now.

I have often wondered about how you would record web streamed shows and movies. There are a bunch of them out there but if you can't record it, it does me no good. I don't think I've watched a live show in years.

[whurlston]

It's an embedded player from http://www.tikilive.com/ specifically: http://www.tikilive.com/show/fox--news