Question for Comcast Users Using an HD Box for OnDemand

I believe 1 box is included in your monthly plan for Comcast. The first cablecard should be no additional cost as well.

 

Actually, it is one or the other.... first STB or first CableCard is included, here in Burlington.

 

Upgraded last Saturday (N/W suburbs Chicago). Had been using OTA antenna only with the TiVo HD. We did get a cable box for On-Demand in the rec room. (Note the standard cable box is not High Def). I don't believe the THD can process the on-demand request. I haven't tested whether the On Demand request on the cable box will then play on channel 1 of the THD.

Was not a smooth install. Tech didn't bring cable cards with. I explained I needed 1 M-card for the TiVo and a standard card for the TV. He returned with three M-Cards. TiVo recognized the card but wouldn't pull in HD channels automatically. The TV recognized the M-Card as a cable card but would not initiate the Cablecard menu. Tech blamed too many splitters and too weak of a signal. He replaced the splitters he could, and after he left I ran the guided setup and the TiVo works perfectly. They are returning Saturday to attempt the TV cable card again.

In my calls to ComCast I was quoted different rates for Cable cards, but went with a "package deal" including the phone service. The 1st cable card should be free - Make sure you ask for, and get a single M-Card, for the TiVo. If you get 2 standard cards it will work, but you'll pick up an additional charge. If you get the cable box, thats your first/free outlet. Additional should be $1.98, but I was quoted as high as $6.95.

 

It does not. I don't believe you can do On Demand with the THD.

 

Having gone through this in Atlanta, I can tell you that not all Comcast CSRs know what the rates are and, if they key it wrong, you will have to get someone to straighten it out later.

Your Digital subscription includes one "outlet", which is typically your cable box. You can get a cable card instead for the same price (free). If you want a second outlet (cable card plus cable box) then it costs $6. The TiVos use two single-stream cable cards or one multi-stream card. Comcast has a special price if they put two cable cards in your TiVo of just $1.50 for the second one because it is still only one outlet that you are using. So, if you just have the TiVo, then it would be $1.50 a month for two single-stream cards. If you wanted to keep your cable box too then it would be $7.50. Don't ask me what they'll charge for one multi-stream card because Comcast Atlanta won't have those till the end of the year. It would seem to me that they should drop the $1.50.

Remember to tell the CSR that it is for a TiVo and to find the $1.50 price for the "TiVo cable cards" (which are the same as any other, just a different line item for their billing).

 

The problem with Comcast is that their pricing is not consistent from market to market. I currently lease one of their DVRs (a Motorola DCT6412) and three cablecards (one in a TV and the other two in my S3). I am being charged $11.99/month for the DVR and $5.99/month for the second and third cablecards (the first one is free). I called up Comcast to verify that this was correct. The CRS put me on hold, spoke with her manager, and then confirmed that I was indeed being charged correctly. So basically, they are charging me the same price for the two cards in my Tivo as they are for leasing their DVR. This seems like total BS to me, but there is nothing I can do about it.

 

you have 3 digital outlets, the Motorola DCT6412, your TV using a cablecard, and your TiVo S3 using 2 cablecards, so it looks like you are not being charged anything for cablecards and the $5.99/month charges are for the 2 additional outlets.

 

I just received my Tivo HD. I have Comcast and want to upgrade to digital and HD. As there are only coax inputs to the THD, I sure hope the HD box has a coax out.

If not, how do we do this?

 

Not sure what this question has to do with the subject of this thread, and it is easily answered by looking at the specs of TivoHD, looking at the back of the tivo, or at the FAQs at the beginning of the forum.

Tivo HD will use the hdmi input or the component cable inputs, both located on the rear of the box.

 

You don't actually need to have the HD box feed a signal to the Tivo HD. I assume you plan to get CableCards for your Tivo when you go to digital? If so, split the incoming cable to the house, with one end going to the coax input on the Tivo and the other going to the HD box.

If you connected them serially, you'd be stuck manually changing channels on the HD box since the Tivo has no way of "telling" it to change channels.

 

Not to mention that the THD has no video inputs, only the cable and antenna RF inputs. The cable needs to be split to go both to the Comcast HD box and the THD, and the outputs from both need to go your TV or AV box, and you switch between them as desired. I doubt the Comcast HD box has an RF out, and if it does, it would be a rather low-resolution standard definition analog signal, not an HD digital signal.

 

I have both HD cable box and S3 with 2 cablecards on same primary TV charge and I am not being charged an additional outlet fee. I had the cable box first and then added S3.

You should be able to get the digital box free if it is on your primary TV. See the 2nd to last answer in this FAQ at Comcast here.

 

Thanks, guys. I should have dug further at Comcast before bringing it up here. My confusion stemmed from the Comcast website statement that a "HD box" is required to receive HD from them. Finally, I had a chat with a tech who stated that this wasn't true with THD.

Glenn

 

The THD is an HD box, so the statement is not wrong, just misleading. The reason you need a Comcast box for on-demand is because you need 2-way communication. Cable cards are only one-way - they cannot communicate back to Comcast. So if you want On-Demand, you have to have a Comcast box of some sort.

There is a new spec called CableCard 2 which will allow 2 way communication, but who knows how long it will take to implement. Don't hold your breath.

 

You were doing well until this statement, which is wrong.

All CableCARDs support two-way communication. Whether the host does, is a different issue.

 

I stand corrected.

 

I got both for no additional cost here in Houston with Comcast.