Houston, We have problem

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I don't think our problems are over yet. All my ADS channels from 2-99 have been very blocky, pixellated and with audio dropouts for the whole week. I'm lucky if I can watch FOX or CNBC for more than 10 minutes without the signal dropping out.

A friend at work also sees this so it's not just TiVo users. I assume they're doing stuff to get ready for the switchover.

Get ready for some bad feeds for a while after the changeover.

 

Hmmmm...I recall someone from Tivo posting that they had no idea that Comcast was pushing the date back a week. However, I knew it since Comcast has been telling us for a while now that the date is the 27th. Why didn't Tivo know as well? Plus, there was no actual push since the channels are not at the 600 tier as of yet, which caused all the problems. Tivo pushed the data to the guide too early. Comcast has yet to change a thing. I love to blast Comcast, for sure, but Tivo dropped the ball on this one. They may have gotten confused with all the various cable outlets changing at different times but don't pee on my leg and tell me it was someone else's fault. They fixed it because they broke it. 'Fess up and do better next time. It's what responsible people do and it's what I would expect from a great company such as Tivo has always been.

*End of rant*

 

Because TiVo is based in CA and Comcast never notified them of the delayed date. Not that hard...

 

The new set of channel changes were downloaded to my THDs Sunday. The 600 tier HD channels are available today (Monday). Everything is working great. A couple things:

1. The old HD channels still work. It looks to me like the CC cards are mapping the QAM HD signals to both the new and old channel numbers. Is this nice bit of CC programming actually something we can thank Comcast for? Or is it one of the TiVo guy's ideas? Anyway it is a very nice surprise and kudos to whoever came up with it.

2. The original lineup change from last week did moves of the old channel numbers to the new channel numbers. Sunday's lineup changes just did adds, taking advantage of the QAM signal forking mentioned above.

If this QAM forking technique can be used for future lineup moves, a lot of customer problems will be avoided. Hopefully, it is now a standard tool for use from now on.

Can we expect the moves to come later? And the old channel mappings removed?

 

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Noticed yesterday (Sunday) the change was back. Noticed this morning (Monday) the new channels work!

This is Comcast. They said something like this in one of their notices (I paraphrase poorly): "All the new channels will be in the 600's. That's our new tier for HD. Any existing HD channel will also get a new 600 #, in addition to keeping their old # for a while. So NBC for example, will be on 612, while retaining 312." They didn't say how long they would retain dual channel #s.

Noticed this also, and wondered how it will play out. All my SPs are still on the old #s, not the new 600's. Should we wait & see if they transfer over? If we remove the old # from the channel list, and make the new # active, will my existing SPs migrate?

 

I'm moving all my SPs over tonight. Doesn't hurt to refresh the SPs. Plus all those SPs on SD channels now change to HD channels. Woo Hoo!

 

I noticed the addition of the new channels, but some of their SD counterparts did not delete. I know how to fix it, but I'm curious... would this be intentional, for some reason? Maybe to preserve season passes?

 

The SD channels are still going to be broadcast for all those people that don't have HD TVs.

 

Does anyone know if there is an official lineup available online? The one on the Comcast web site seems to be old (last updated in November).

 

I haven't seen a new lineup in forever. I think they're afraid that if they tell us what's supposed to be on which channel they'll get flooded with calls telling them every channel people don't get. I still can't tell which channels are part of the Sports Pak and which come in without it.

I still am not seeing 39 TCM. Lucky I never watch it ................ but still .........

 

I have probably lost a half dozen scheduled recordings on this channel since it disappeared three weeks or so ago. Testing the signal strength of the channel through the TiVo shows it at full strength, and I occasionally get sound, but no picture.

 

Duh, but I'm saying if TiVo sent a command to the HD boxes to add HD channels, wouldn't it stand to reason that they'd also have them delete the SD version of those channels? I'm pretty sure it did for some, but not all.

 

I don't think I've ever noticed that behavior before. I would hope it would not do that. I prefer to keep both versions in my listings. Some of the "HD" channels stretch their content and I'd rather just record the SD version if they're going to do that.

 

Just checked and 39 was working again for me. Comcast must have fixed it in the last couple hours.

 

Absolutely not. It is just a new channel for your lineup. If you don't want the SD channel any longer (which most do not) just go to the Channel List and uncheck it as a Channel You Recieve.

Some people want to keep it since the SD uses less storage if recorded at lower quality.

 

The SD and the HD version of a channel are considered two different channels. Always. AFAIK, there has never been a case of an HD channel replacing the SD version; they always coexist.* The only exceptions would be the HD only channels (HDNet is the only one that comes to mind).

In many cases, the two (HD & SD) simulcast the same programming. But in some cases they have different programming.

While some people use both, I always delete the SD version. Room is not a problem for me, and since I do a lot of searches, and use WL extensively, only having one channel makes the search quicker and the results cleaner (they're not listed twice).

I'm still trying to figure out how to auto-migrate my SPs to the new channels. I realize the SD ones won't, but what about the HD ones? If I have an SP on HGTV (287), will it flip to 687 one day?

* true today, may not be true forever.

 

It is my understanding that Season Passes are set up for the specific channel based on the Call Sign of the station (HGTV) not the channel number. If you are getting HGTV on both channels, I would think that you could delete 287 from the Channels You Recieve List and the SP would lock onto 687.

 

There are five erroneous listings in the TiVo Guide.

Channels 406, 626 and 639 do not exist.
Channel 640 DISN is an error; DISN is 641.
Channel 676 FBN is an error; FBN is 677.

I have not checked, but I would not be surprised to find that they are now squeezing three HDs in a slot that had been carrying only two. It may be getting to the point that WS is a more accurate description than HD.

 

I had lots of problems yesterday; pixellation, dropouts. I gave them a pass because of the weather, but my first thought when I heard about the new channels was how the h*ll are they gonna squeeze even more thru those bloated pipes? The next few days should tell.

Thanks for the info. Has anyone found a new guide; my wife is bugging me to print her something, and I hate to hand make it.

PS: What's "WS"?