Comcast HD questions (1 Viewer)

[Mike Pottr]

I am moving next week and to go along with the townhouse I bought I picked upa Toshiba 42 inch widescreen HD rptv (model 42H82) Since I am moving I and need to change my cable anyways, I am considering upgrading to Comcast digital with HD. I have read about it here and spoke with someone today from comcast. I am only wondering a few things though before I decide to go ahead with it, first, will the set-top box they give me the compenent video outputs that my TV has that are HD ready, and will that give me full HD with no need to purchase a additional box. Also will the shows on the local channels (ABC CBS ect) that are filmed in HD TV be shown as HD, meaning if I were to watch a show like the Tonight Show with Jay Leno through the digital cable HD box I would be able to view it in High Definition. The provider is Comcast of Hardford County MD, yes they do offer HD I confirmed that today.

Thanks
Mike

 

[Rachael B]

Mike, the boxes they have here have component output and a digital output, I forget if it was optical or coaxial... I haven't seen one in person. I dropped by their main office, here in Knoxville, and asked to see one. Their clerk who didn't habla Ang-lish so well, went to the back to ask somebody on every question I asked. I gave up before I got half my questions answered. The woman acted miffed at every question. The answers were not alltogether satisfactory anyway. One answer, which was not the answer to my question, was"... it's just like the regular cable box but silver...". The main question I didn't get answered was does it upconvert everything to component video or do you have to switch back and forth between component and S-video/composite?

You don't have to buy an HD tuner but weigh the box rent you'll pay over time. I've ended up going DirecTV and I intend to pick my locals up off the air when I upgrade one of my boxes. I based my decision on cost. The cheapest digital service with no premiums is $56 a month plus some taxes that make it roughly $60.

I don't know where your county is but I once worked for the cable company in Westminster and it was hard to sell cable TV to the folks who lived on hilltops who could pick up 15-20+ channels off the air. If you're anywhere near Washngton and Baltimore you ought to study your OTA possibilities.

I think Comcast gives you East and West feeds for HBO and Showtime on their HD premiums. I don't think DirecTV does. Cable has a bandwidth advantage over satelite ultimately, but we'll see how they choose to use it. Comcast is tempting here but awfully expensive. BTW, you should run a search of this forum using Comcast as the term. You ought to turn up some other threads that migt answer some questions. I'm pretty sure the boxes are the same all over. Best wishes!

 

[Hank_P]

Also remember that their "digital" channels are channels above 112 (or 100, I forget). So the 1-100 will still be Analog ..make sure you asked them the specific questions you are asking here. Every time I spoke with them, I got a different answer as their support staff was trying to sell me something they knew nothing about.

I have Comcast and not ready to go with the "digital" yet. I'm still on the fence about going to satellite, so I picked up an OTA Digital Tuner (Samsung 165) and right now, I'm enjoying both worlds as I'm getting about 12 digital channels here.

 

[Jerry Dreiss]

Mike,
I just got the HD box from Comcast hooked up Tuesday.
Like others have said, it has a component out that feeds into your sets HD component inputs. It also has both types of digital audio out, optical and coax.
Comcast Boston offers 5 channels of HD. They are NBC, ABC, HBO, Showtime, and PBS. (Since I don't have the Showtime package I don't get that channel.)
This means I get the local ABC and NBC stations twice. I get there regular channels (4 and 7) and their HD channels. (805 and 806)
Now, you can configure your box in several ways. For HD material I naturally use the component inputs on my set, but for regular material (read "every other channel") I use the composite connections.
If your Comcast is like my Comcast then they are using the Motorola DCT5100. A good FAQ for that box can be found here:
Motorola DCT5100