QAM mapping letter campaign (HD w/o cablecard) - Page 71

TexasGrillChef · 01-25-2010, 03:40 PM

Has anyone actually had any luck with this letter writing cam"pain"?????

As old as this thread is... I honestly don't think this will happen as much as many of you want it too.

I wish the best for you.... but I wouldn't place any bets on you winning this issue!

TGC

enjoyoutdoors · 02-16-2010, 05:42 AM

Well, I wonder how many come here like I did and just get disgusted and never bother posting?

Add me as another experiencing this problem. I just bought a Tivo HD and have comcast service. I knew that I can get the channels and had expected them to be covered. I would not have bought the Tivo had I known they would not provide it.

Lets all be honest here. What this REALLY is ALL about is MONOPOLISTIC practices and companies enabling each other to continue them.

HD should be free as part of a general subscription, but all the providers are hanging onto extra charges because they can and because there is really not enough competition that they lose customers. Heck, the big providers are all working hard right now to make sure that pay per channel never ends up being provided over internet, thus removing some serious future competition.

slowbiscuit · 02-16-2010, 06:23 AM

No, that's not what it's about at all, but feel free to join another forum and continue your rant.

bicker · 02-16-2010, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by enjoyoutdoors

Lets all be honest here. What this REALLY is ALL about is MONOPOLISTIC practices and companies enabling each other to continue them.

Yup, you're right. TiVo is a monopoly. It is the only provider of TiVo DVRs. Call the SEC!

Quote:

Originally Posted by enjoyoutdoors

HD should be free as part of a general subscription

Where in the Bible is that written? "Let's all be honest here..." You are describing what you want, not what "should be".

If you think you can do a better job, then start your own company.

dwynne · 02-16-2010, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by enjoyoutdoors

I just bought a Tivo HD and have comcast service. I knew that I can get the channels and had expected them to be covered. I would not have bought the Tivo had I known they would not provide it.

I have an HD Tivo and Comcast as well. They gave me the multistream cable card I need to pick up the programming I pay for. There was a small, one time fee to activate the card - but (by law, I think) the M card costs me nothing per month.

Would I PREFER to be able to pick up clear QAM and have guide data? Sure. But I have no complaint about getting what I need for nothing. And, they are now in the process of scrambling all the clear QAM channels anyway, except for perhaps the local channels, so having the ability to map to clear QAM will soon be a moot point (here, at least).

bicker · 02-16-2010, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwynne

I have an HD Tivo and Comcast as well. They gave me the multistream cable card I need to pick up the programming I pay for. There was a small, one time fee to activate the card - but (by law, I think) the M card costs me nothing per month.

The law requires that the average rental fee a specific MSO charges for CableCARDs be "reasonable". They can accomplish that either by charging everyone the same reasonable fee (like FiOS does) or they can accomplish that by charging half of their customers nothing, and the other half of their customers double the "reasonable" amount (like most of the rest do).

Stormspace · 02-16-2010, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bicker

Yup, you're right. TiVo is a monopoly. It is the only provider of TiVo DVRs. Call the SEC!

Where in the Bible is that written? "Let's all be honest here..." You are describing what you want, not what "should be".

If you think you can do a better job, then start your own company.

If SD is being phased out it stands to reason that whatever they use to replace it will have to be included in the basic rate plans. I guess it could be downrezzed digital HD to SD, but there might be a stink about degrading a signal unless you pay more, or not. People may not be able to tell the difference.

bicker · 02-16-2010, 02:19 PM

SD is not being phased out. Analog is. Big difference.

The B1 tier includes the local over-the-air broadcast channels. It's not a matter of what "stands to reason" -- it's explicit in the law.

The regulations require provision of HDs at their broadcast resolution, but not the broadcast bitrate. Again: Big difference (between resolution and bitrate).

Within the context of what the regulations actually require (i.e., resolution; not bitrate), the typical viewer "telling the difference" is all that matters.

mattack · 02-16-2010, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bicker

SD is not being phased out.

Sorry, tangential question. I have been curious about this.

If they can/have pretty much gotten people to "get digital" (even just with the DTAs), why don't they get even MORE bandwidth back by getting rid of SD and having everything HD? (I realize this would require the DTAs to be able to decode HD channels, even if just outputting composite video, like my TivoHD does to my ancient TV.. heh)

Don't get me wrong, I personally *don't* want this because then my Tivo drive would be even more full than it already is (though esp with the olympics now, I have started downloading tons of stuff to an external 1.5 TB drive.. and I'm not even recording the olympics in HD).. but it seems to me like it would make sense from the cable company point of view -- EXCEPT it would get rid of their ability to charge extra for HD. (Though IMHO they could essentially do the same thing by having different bundles of HD channels for different price points.)

bicker · 02-17-2010, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattack

If they can/have pretty much gotten people to "get digital" (even just with the DTAs), why don't they get even MORE bandwidth back by getting rid of SD and having everything HD? (I realize this would require the DTAs to be able to decode HD channels, even if just outputting composite video, like my TivoHD does to my ancient TV.. heh)

I suppose the first question is how many SD channels (that have HD counterparts) are there, really? Even with there being 100, we're really only talking about 60 MHz.

Beyond that, look how long TNT and TBS stretched their video, in recognition of how many regular people react negatively to black bars on the broadcast. I suspect when all the (pardon the pejorative) dullards who care about black bars are gone, then there will be no real need to have both SD and HD signals for a network.

vstone · 02-18-2010, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by enjoyoutdoors

Well, I wonder how many come here like I did and just get disgusted and never bother posting?

Add me as another experiencing this problem. I just bought a Tivo HD and have comcast service. I knew that I can get the channels and had expected them to be covered. I would not have bought the Tivo had I known they would not provide it.

Lets all be honest here. What this REALLY is ALL about is MONOPOLISTIC practices and companies enabling each other to continue them.

HD should be free as part of a general subscription, but all the providers are hanging onto extra charges because they can and because there is really not enough competition that they lose customers. Heck, the big providers are all working hard right now to make sure that pay per channel never ends up being provided over internet, thus removing some serious future competition.

FCC could eaily interpret CFR to require posting clear QAM channels lineups, but won't.

vstone · 02-18-2010, 02:13 PM

Cable compaies are required to support analog TV sets until FEB 2012. They can do this by supplying an analog TV signal for the basic broadcast tier or by providing an adapter, which they are allowed to charge for. The cable companies are doing a balancing act with regard to supporting analog. They probably would like to go all digital today, but do not want to buy a trainalod of analog TV adapters that they will discard in two years. Some cable systems have already gone all digital. Others will when the economics of doing so make sense.

As far as SD vs HD, not all of the available SD material will make it to an HD channel in the near future, so SD is probably here for a while.

mattack · 02-18-2010, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vstone

Cable compaies are required to support analog TV sets until FEB 2012. They can do this by supplying an analog TV signal for the basic broadcast tier or by providing an adapter, which they are allowed to charge for.

Are you claiming that the 2 free DTAs per household that Comcast gives out is due to their kindness?

(yes I'm being sarcastic of course)

bicker · 02-19-2010, 07:06 AM

The first DTA is mandated until 2012. The second DTA is strategic generosity, sort of like when Exxon sponsors Masterpiece Theater on public television.

lew · 02-19-2010, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattack

Are you claiming that the 2 free DTAs per household that Comcast gives out is due to their kindness?

(yes I'm being sarcastic of course)

Not out of kindness, but not required by current regulations.

schwinn · 02-19-2010, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lew

Not out of kindness, but not required by current regulations.

I thought the waiver required them to provide these, so they could move more channels to digital? Hence the creation of these mini-cable-boxes?

bicker · 02-19-2010, 10:04 AM

No, the DTA waiver allowed them to use the boxes. They could have moved the channels to digital without the waiver; they just would have had to require consumers to rent full STBs instead, of giving cheaper DTAs away complementary.

rv65 · 02-27-2010, 03:31 AM

Comcast Bay Area is planning to encrypt the Expanded basic channels. Other divisions will follow suit so you might have to consider getting a cable card in order for a Tivo HD to work. Only the local HD and limited basic will be receivable without a cablecard.

tvmaster2 · 04-19-2010, 10:32 AM

Tivo would be smart to include the guide data for the "local" channels that the cable company provides over Qam - no more. This way, they'd make a sale to people who didn't want to pay fees, and who would go the HTPC/MCE route. Once those people get hooked on Tivo, at least half of them would likely up the ante and put in the cablecard. C'mon Tivo, essentially, just map the guide data that gets mapped for OTA locals to the simultaneous Qam channel. Everyone wins

cogx · 04-19-2010, 10:47 AM

As far as I can tell, TiVo doesn't want anything to with the guide data, which they license from TMS. Our station lists and station-to-channel mappings, for our selected zip code and cable providers, is all in the TMS data. Clearly, TMS doesn't want to get into the business of trying to keep track of QAM channel numbers and TiVo either can't (due to their licensing agreement with TMS?) or they won't come up with a way for us customers to take matters into our own hands and add the necessary station-to-channel mappings. Bottom line, it just isn't going to happen and now this old wound of a thread just got picked at and will likely start bleeding again...

carios23 · 04-19-2010, 12:58 PM

Does anybody know if Moxi can do this?

"Clear QAM channel mapping through a web interface to fully support HD locals on cable -- with program information-- without the need for a CableCard."

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/16232

I found this online, but I would like to know how good it works?