Comcast digital conversion - Argh!

[Brian Elfert]

Comcast forced everyone who has anything more than basic cable to digital cable back in June 2010. Now, they are converting all cable TV to digital. Cable ready TVs will no longer work.

Now everybody needs a cable box or DVR to receive cable TV as I am not aware of any TV with the proper tuner built-in. Comcast originally supplied Digital Transport Adapters so cable ready TVs could still get cable TV. It is basically a mini cable box. Comcast supplied these for free initially, but starting Jan 1st they are charging $1.99 a month. My parents only have basic cable for $12 a month so they have to pay at least $2 a month more. It won't break my parents, but it is just another money grab by Comcast.

There is no longer any way to receive cable TV without paying extra to Comcast to rent a cable box of some sort. Just one more reason why people hate Comcast. Comcast had sent me one of these Digital Transport Adapters about two weeks after I switched to digital cable TV. I already have a DVR from Comcast so I stuffed the thing in a closet. All of the sudden they started charging $1.99/month for it so I will take it to one of their service centers to give it back.

[Jason Beam]

Actually - any new TVs (and any made fairly recently, i'm not sure how far back) all have digital tuners in them and they can receive the same channels as the DTAs do. I have two TVs and a video card in my media server that have no problem getting all the basic cable channels.

Doesn't help people who didn't hop on the digital wave sooner, i know, but figured the information might be useful to others.

[Steve Meliza]

This happened to us recently. Comcast started encrypting all of the analog channels so you need the little box to view those channels. But it doesn't support HD so if you wanted to watch OPB or a local channel you have to watch a fuzzy SD. The only thing our Comcast basic cable gives us that I can't pick up over the air for free is the Discovery channel. Thank goodness I discovered that if I leave the Comcast box out of the loop and leave my TV directly connected like it was before that I get the Discovery channel on 110.2203 and OPB HD still comes in fine on 10.1.

I hate where Comcast is going with this, hate the extra remotes, and how much we have to pay to get basic cable that is mainly free content to begin with so we may drop them soon. Hopefully some day we can have a service where I pay for just the channels that I want to have.

[Brian Elfert]

Actually - any new TVs (and any made fairly recently, i'm not sure how far back) all have digital tuners in them and they can receive the same channels as the DTAs do. I have two TVs and a video card in my media server that have no problem getting all the basic cable channels.

Digital over the air is different than digital cable. I'm not aware of any TV that can directly receive Comcast digital cable without some of device from Comcast. Some TVs can take Cable cards, but you still have to get them from Comcast. There is a Unit Address and a MAC address on the Comcast devices. Comcast has to enter those addresses in their system to allow you to get cable TV service. No more getting free cable because the last tenant/owner had cable and it was never disconnected. Comcast doesn't even have to physically disconnect the cable anymore. They just remove the authorizations for your Comcast devices.

I would be interested in knowing of any model of TV that can receive Comcast digital cable without a cable card or anything extra.

[Fred Perreault]

Comcast... probably the worst company in America.... fees, service, customer support

[Dennis Peacock]

Please, let's make sure we do not carry this into a company bashing thread ok? Let's keep on topic of the OP.
Thank you for your cooperation.

[jim vancampen]

Comcast is evil, however i found by not using that silly little digital converter that wrecks your signal i get full HD. So, I just deleted a paragraph off my post. I have to stop with this word; monopoly.

[Curt Fuller]

Comcast... probably the worst company in America.... fees, service, customer support

Amen!!!

I moved my mother into an assisted living facility on 12-15. On 12-18 I began my efforts to cancel her Comcast service. There is no way to cancel service online. There is also no option to cancel service when you call the technical support or any of their other numbers. So after approximately 2 hours of being on hold I finally reached a "customer satisfaction" representative to cancel her service. I was told that because the service was not in my name I could not cancel it. So I handed the phone to my 84 year old mother to authorize the cancellation. When she handed the phone back to me I was told that the service would not be cancelled until I returned the cable box and modem to their facility, 40 some miles away. I told them I would not return it, that they could send me a box and I would box it up and mail it back to them at their cost. They agreed to do that but in the process of them trying to find out a mailing address to send the box we got disconnected. Before getting disconnected I had told them to just send it to the mailing address on her bill but the rep did not have that address. I assumed it was cancelled but then received a new bill last week. So I went through the process again only this time I was told they couldn't send a box to return their equipment and it had to be returned to their store. AND because it was now after Jan 10 she would be billed for another month's service. I basically told them that I would not pay for another month's service and that if they didn't take it off the bill I would gladly throw their equipment in the garbage. It is now my intent to also cancel my service and to convince everyone I can to also cancel their service. There are too may good competitors out there to deal with such poor service and rude treatment. I agree with Fred....probably the worst company in America.

[Jason Beam]

Digital over the air is different than digital cable. I'm not aware of any TV that can directly receive Comcast digital cable without some of device from Comcast. Some TVs can take Cable cards, but you still have to get them from Comcast. There is a Unit Address and a MAC address on the Comcast devices. Comcast has to enter those addresses in their system to allow you to get cable TV service. No more getting free cable because the last tenant/owner had cable and it was never disconnected. Comcast doesn't even have to physically disconnect the cable anymore. They just remove the authorizations for your Comcast devices.

I would be interested in knowing of any model of TV that can receive Comcast digital cable without a cable card or anything extra.

This is contrary to my experience. I have a Hauppage tv card in my media PC that decodes all of the lower comcast channels. At Fry's, they have told me several times that all of their TVs have digital tuners that can tune Comcast's cable signal. I misspoke earlier, I have one TV that is doing this, not two. It's a small Toshiba that we bought 2 years ago for my wife in the kitchen. I'm not sure the model number, but since it's 2 years old, I'm sure it's one of many that can tune my Comcast signal just fine without the little boxes they sent us.

[Steve Meliza]

I have two LCD TV's directly connected to Comcast cable and get all of the digital channels just fine. We have basic cable, you need a box to get the premium content because it is encrypted.

[Brian Elfert]

Comcast originally did not encrypt basic cable when they did the digital conversion. Now in my area they are going to go digital with everything including basic cable. The full conversion to digital cable is on different schedules depending on area of the country. In some areas Comcast converted everything to digital more than a year ago. I suspect if one can still get the lower channels that basic cable has yet to be converted to digital.

I am going to have to do some more research to find out if any TV really can can receive Comcast basic cable after Comcast converts to digital.

[David Weaver]

I think they went full digital here a while ago. As soon as I can find decent internet that's cheaper than comcast has it, I'm gone. I dumped expanded basic about 10 years ago after having a conversation with a representative, who informed me that a 33% rate increase was a good value because they added content....the oxygen channel and the travel channel. The reality of it at the time was probably that history, tlc, MTV and ESPN were doing a money grab and all of the semi learning channels were converting to trash programming. It was a good idea.

I still get a mailer all the time telling me how they have a special $160 a month deal. $160 a month is an ongoing budget for a medium sized car, and that's the "discount" rate until the trial period runs out, what's it after that, $200? plus whatever fees they want to add on all of that.

Hulu basic is free and netflix streaming is what? If there's not enough entertainment in there, then maybe I can find something to do with my own hands in the shop. Surely there's something around the house that could use attention, too.

No wonder everyone claims they have no money.

[Matt Meiser]

Where do you think you are going to get comparable Internet to what a cable company provides? Fact is they are the only game for over about 10-12mb in many,many areas. That said Amazon video does work well on 6. Haven't tried the others.

Also phone infrastructure is pretty bad in many many areas compared to cable. How do you think the cable companies are paying for those upgrades?

[Myk Rian]

I called Comcast last year to remind them I was paying for HD, but couldn't get it with the small box I had.
They shipped a DVR box, then added the rental on it. We called and complained. They removed the charge.

If you call and tell them AT&T U-verse is in your area, and they offer a great 2 year deal, you can get Comcast to cut their price.

[Jason Beam]

Comcast originally did not encrypt basic cable when they did the digital conversion. Now in my area they are going to go digital with everything including basic cable. The full conversion to digital cable is on different schedules depending on area of the country. In some areas Comcast converted everything to digital more than a year ago. I suspect if one can still get the lower channels that basic cable has yet to be converted to digital.

I am going to have to do some more research to find out if any TV really can can receive Comcast basic cable after Comcast converts to digital.

Pretty sure we were converted at least a year ago - i think more. They sent us two of those little boxes and I have them on my older TVs. But I bought the other two since then (the tv card and the other tv) and they get all the same channels as the two other TVs with the little boxes. So I suspect your understanding may be either outdated or regional.

For me, I can go down and pickup any new TV and get the lower Comcast Digital channels. I don't think any further changes are coming since they sent out those boxes already. I don't think I have the letter that came with those boxes anymore, but I vaguely recall something about them mentioning new televisions not requiring the box. It's possible they said something like "If you have a TV purchased prior to 200(something), you will need the converter box." or something to that effect. Fuzzy memory, but these newer devices I have work fine without the converter boxes.