Comcast and Tivo Programming Options

[lateknight]

So I finally got my new TV, the Sharp Acquos 32" LCD. Xbox 360 and DVD's look great, but my crappy analog cable looks, well, hideous. My question is this: I don't watch much actual TV except for the major networks and my wife watches Food Network a lot. That being the case, we just have the basic analog cable, which is really all we need. I'm getting the Tivo HD for my birthday in February and I'm wondering what the least expensive option is for cable through Comcast. Looking on their site, they have an option for HD TV for non-digital subscribers. Is it possible to do HD analog with the Tivo HD? If not can I subscribe to Digital Basic and pay for the HD upgrade? The Comcast site says that you have to subscribe to Digital Preferred Plus or above to get HD, but I'm just not that interested in paying $105/month just to get HD for the major networks? I'm in the SF Bay Area if this makes a difference. I called Comcast and the CSR didn't seem to have a clue...thanks in advance for the help!

Patrick

[markp99]

If basic cable looks terrible on your nice new TV, then I'd suggest you go for the digital package. Using a TiVo Series3, HDTiVo, or the Comcast box, you'll see a drastic improvement, with no degradation in picture quality!

Alternatively, you can contact the cable co and have them come out and look at your connections/cables from the pole to your TV. They will usually do this for free and the results can be pretty drastic, especially if you have a weak signal or bad terminations.

If you don't want the premium content from cable in HD, then an OTA antenna may provide the network HD content you're looking for.

[ACoolDude]

I had Comcast basic cable here in Pittsburgh about 8 months ago (before getting HD thru D*), and Comcast Local HD channels were not blocked, I just needed an HD box (I had basic cable, about $12, and their HD DVR $10-15 month - but did not pay for HD got CBS, NBC, FOX, InHD, PBS). I thought there was some law that cable co's cannot block local HD.

[lateknight]

Good to know...I think I'll probably go with the Digital Starter package, since it seems like local HD channels will still be available. I assume that this means that I won't get Discovery HD and Food Network HD and all that, even though I do get the SD equivalents. On that note, how do the SD channels look on digital cable on an HDTV...hopefully better than analog cable looks on my Series 2 on my HDTV. Thanks!