need advice about supplimenting tivo with hd comcast

[kurtucky]

I have finally got around to looking into getting high definition service for my new lcd tv that I got for christmas. I am using a standalone tivo and was looking at comcast's hd service. I have a couple of questions.
1. I have comcast's analog basic service. Do I have to upgrade to digital to get their hd service?
2. Are there any hidden fees on top of the $5.00/month for hd (equip rental, etc)
3. Do I get all of the hd channels (except the premiums) that they promise on the site?
4. What is the hd quality like?
5. I can get to a comcast store to get the equipment myself. Can I install it myself (the hd service)?
6. I want to record the hd from comcast. How is their hd dvr for that? I will still keep my tivo.
7. Are there any hidden fees in the hd dvr?
8. Can I really get hd with an hd dvr from comcast for only $10.00 more a month?

Thanks!!!!

[Dan203]

Most cable companies require you to get digital cable if you want their DVR or HD receiver. However if your TV has a QAM compatible tuner, or is CableCARD compatible, then you should be able to watch HD without paying for any additional services since it is illegal for cable companies to encrypt publicly broadcast HD channels.

And to answer #4 HD is awesome.

Dan

[crowfan]

All of my answers apply to my cable company (Cablevision on Long Island). I don't know what your cable company does, so you'd have to contact them to find out...

1. Probably. Around here, you do.
2. Nope. Same price to rent a SD cable box as an HD cable box (regular box, not DVR box).
3. Yes. You get all of the HD equivalents of the channels in whatever package you pay for.
4. It will blow your mind. It's that much better.
5. Usually, yes. You just have to plug the coax into the box, and then run component cables to the TV, and audio cables. Not hard.
6. No idea. The one from my cableco sucks, but it records HD and has 2 tuners, so I have it, at least until the Series 3 comes out.
7. Nope. It costs $5/month for the box, and $10/month for the DVR service = $15/month for each DVR box.
8. See number 7.

Hope this helps!

[Stephen Tu]

For me, it costs $15/month more than extended basic for the Comcast DVR w/ HD, $5 for box, $10 DVR fee. They make you subscribe to at least extended basic, not limited basic. This gets you the HD broadcast networks (Fox/CBS/NBC/ABC/PBS etc., exact combination depends on where you live & if they have reached agreement with local affiliate). To get ESPNHD/DSCVHD/INHD etc., they now make you subscribe to digital cable (I was grandfathered in & still receive those). This would be a net $5/more for those channels, as it is ~$10/more over extended basic but includes the $5 box fee. This also includes a bunch of their digital standard def channels.

In my area, they require service tech installation, I think the fee was a bit under $20.

[davezatz]

I have Comcast with the analog cable package - it runs about $55 a month. Standard broadcast channels (NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, PBS, WB) are sent in HD via QAM at no extra charge. I have an LG box which is both a DVD player and a HD tuner... so that box interprets the QAM signal and sends it off to my HDTV. Of course it's worth mentioning those standard broadcast channels are also available OTA for free.

To officially get HD from Comcast, they charged me another $15 or so to upgrade to digital cable, $5 for HD (ESPN and Discovery mainly, on top of the regulars), $10 for the HD DVR cable box. We tried it for a month or so and passed. The Motorola 6412 HD DVR was fine for basic DVR functionality - menus were speedy, picture quality was decent, and it has dual tuners... it wasn't as intuitive as the TiVo, had no extra features, and the guide data was often incomplete.

As far as what is HD quality like, it will partially depend on how big your LCD TV is and how far you're sitting from it... we frequently watch 480p DVDs and even standard def TV on our HD (30" CRT) set and think it looks good. Though it's extremely obvious when NFL or Lost is being shown in HD... very nice. Heck, even our CBS affiliate is showing local news in HD and it looks great.