A couple of Comcast (Boston Area) HD Channel Changes

[jlb]

I actually looked at the fine print of my Comcast bill and there are a few channel/lineup changes coming in the next month. This could effect your season passes. I know they are channel specific, but I wasn't sure if it is actually tied to an underlying ID that might stay the same. Either way, to be safe, here is the information (with my own format change to make it more readable):

Beginning 10/1, the following changes will be made to your basic HD channel lineup. These changes will be complete by 10/15.

WSBK-DTHD: 838 --> 814
WFXT-DTHD: 825 --> 806
WLVI-DTHD: 856 --> 808

Personnally, I liked the original numbers as they tied to the old station numbers, 38, 25, and 56. Oh well.

[jlb]

Okay, focusing my question further....

As I noticed in another thread, SPs are tagged to the ID number. I assume that theoretically, this shouldn't change. But it can, right? Comcast could change the ID for these channels, right?

I would assume they wouldn't, but has anyone ever experienced this?


Thanks!

[Amnesia]

Personnally, I liked the original numbers as they tied to the old station numbers, 38, 25, and 56. Oh well.I assume that the reason for the move is to group the OTA networks together...

(now if they'd just move History-HD out from in the middle of the premium movie channels, I'd be happy)

[jlb]

Just a reminder for "Boston Area" Comcast Customers. Note, then when I called Comcast to see if they could give a better idea of which channel will change on which day (which of course they couldn't), I was told that some parts of the region have the 8xx series channels mapped to 7xx. So I guess this applies to those regions too. Just watch carefully.

[jlb]

Bump.

Comcast in our region has started the process to make these changes. All three networks/channels noted above are now broadcasting theig signal on both the old channel number and the new channel number. Guide data clearly is not updated yet.

I am wondering if I should send a preliminary guide data report to TiVo with this information?

[Amnesia]

Sure! Go ahead!

[jlb]

Ok, so this morning, my TiVo received the new "lineup". It also had the message that said SPs would be moved to the new channels (or whatever the exact wording was). But the SPs did not move to the new channel. Perhaps both the old and new channel are still being simulcast and there is data for the "old" channel"? To test, I changed my Prison Break SP from 825 to 806 (the new channel) and it did not show the upcoming episode as being recorded. Perhaps that was just because it still needed to index?

Anyways, I would hate to wait and do nothing and then if/when data for the old channel is completely removed and not have the SPs move over. Thus, I am going to manually change my SPs over the weekend.

[Amnesia]

Thus, I am going to manually change my SPs over the weekend.I'm planning on doing it tonight. Luckily, I only have a handful of Fox SPs that need to be changed---I record the CW shows on my Comcast DVR.

[jlb]

Interesting......got another lineup change alert, but this time it was only a change in call letters. TiVo changed my SPs (which I had manually changed from the "old" HD number to the "new" HD number). But it changed them to the SD channels. Really weird. Maybe because I had the SP set to the HD channel. But it "removed" the old named HD channel. I wonder why it didn't move the SPs (or just keep them) to the newly named but same numbered HD channels.....

No biggie. Caught things in time last night before my first eps on these channels would have aired (tonight).

[tcorning]

Bump, because last night Comcast in my area REMOVED 825, 838, and 856, so they are no longer tuning in. The Guide Data is still there. I'm in southern NH.

Any SP's for these three channels will need to be moved to the new channels, 806, 814, and 808 respectively.

Ted

[Amnesia]

Thanks for the heads up...

[msplat]

House (season pass on 825) appeared in the "Won't Record" section today because the episode was no longer in the guide. I tried making a new season pass with channel 806, but it won't pick it up. If you look in the guide, the double checkmark indicating a season pass episode does not appear. If you go to the season pass manager, I do have a season pass for House on channel 806. If you go to the To Do list, House will record, but on channel 825.

I called Comcast, but they only told me to delete and restart the box, which didn't help.

Any suggestions? Will it record anyway?

Thanks in advance!

[Amnesia]

My House is recording now.

This afternoon, I moved all my season passes like this:

Went to Season Pass list and wrote down the names and positions of all Fox/CW season passes.
Go to "Search by Title"
Find the title of a show that I have as a Fox season pass, eg: House.
Chose the 825 version, chose "Modify Season Pass" and deleted the pass.
Back on the search results page, chose the 806 version and created the season pass.
Repeat for each season pass.
Go to Season Pass manager and move all new season passes to the positions of the old versions.
Went to Settings and removed 825,838,856.

[msplat]

I will try that. It didn't record House tonight but I didn't think of removing the channels. Thanks!

[msplat]

I guess I spoke too soon. I tried the above with Family Guy and everything says 806 except when you go to the actual info page on the To Do list and it says 825. 825 isn't even in my list of channels in settings.

The real problem is that this is a Comcast DVR with Tivo software and we have had tons of problems with it. I guess manual recordings for now!

Thanks!

[pusta]

A little sloppy of Comcast to just cut the signals to the old channels but not remove them from the guide. Although I did not expect anything more.

[ThePennyDropped]

I missed recording House last night due to this issue. :mad:

I think I have easily fixed it for next time, though (I'm using a Series 3). I went into the "Channels You Receive" menu and deleted 825. My season pass list still shows the shows as being set to record on 825, but if I select the option to see all upcoming episodes, it shows that the recordings are scheduled to go on 806 instead. It was a quick and painless way to make the change (since adding a new season pass on 806 and then deleting the old one on 825 takes quite a while). The only problem is that the listing of my season passes still shows the old channel, which might be confusing at some point in the future.

Too bad that the lineup change didn't come through to the TiVo properly. Mine only listed the addition of 806 as a Fox channel and didn't mention the later removal of 825.

[Amnesia]

adding a new season pass on 806 and then deleting the old one on 825 takes quite a whileYeah, that's why I did it the other way around. If I added the new one first, it would complain that it's already recording two things at that time.

[mostman]

When I noticed that the new channel was added but the old one was not removed, I figured I would just remove it myself. So I removed 825 from the channel list but all the season passes are still on there.

I guess I'l have to manually move them all over. I think there is only 4 or 5 of them.

[charms]

I had the same issue in Cambridge. Also, has anyone else lost MSNBC recently? It's no longer on Ch 53 and I'm not receiving anything on the supposedly new Channel 251.

Can't receive Ch 53 even via analog cable (direct into my TV) on 53.

[charms]

From Comcast chat: "But there recently has been CableCard programming guide issues brought to our attention."

Might be a few other channels missing, but it might be nice to have MSNBC, it being Election Day and all.