[COMCAST] Finally... Digital simulcast is complete here!

[jgantert]

Well, after "starting" the digital simulcast last June or July, it is finally complete in Howard County, MD. All of the channels are now Digital Simulcast.

Now I might just need to fork out the extra $7 for another digital box since it will now be 100% digital. heh.

-John

 

[Lurker Lee]

I'm up the road in Balto Co.

Could someone explain to the digitally naive, how would I know if I have this. How can I tell if a channel is digital (shoot, they made me upgrade to "digital service" just to get the dvr, so I assumed they all were). Can you tell from the menu or the dvr?

And what would be the benefits of this happening. (I understand generically what digital is for computers etc and realize that all broadcasts are eventually going digital). I'm just not sure what the benefits are at this point like will digital programs take more or less hard drive space?

Thanks and sorry for an obviously newbie question.

 

[jgantert]

Well, the benefits to digital is that there is no noise in the picture (snow, ghosting, etc) that you see in analog TV. Instead you get compression artifacts (pixelation, etc). Also, a digital signal allows you to get digital audio (Dolby Digital 5.1 for example). For the DVR, it will take up less space to record a digital signal, and the box doesn't have to convert the signal from analog to digital to store it.

In Baltimore Co, they use the Moto boxes, so I don't know off the top of my head how to tell if its digital or not. I have my box hooked up to a Dolby Digital receiver, and it has an indicator for digital or analog signal, so that is how I can tell. I notice that the digital channels have much lower volume than the analog channels.

-John

 

[PGHammer]

Actually, it's easy to check (Motorola)

Well, the benefits to digital is that there is no noise in the picture (snow, ghosting, etc) that you see in analog TV. Instead you get compression artifacts (pixelation, etc). Also, a digital signal allows you to get digital audio (Dolby Digital 5.1 for example). For the DVR, it will take up less space to record a digital signal, and the box doesn't have to convert the signal from analog to digital to store it.

In Baltimore Co, they use the Moto boxes, so I don't know off the top of my head how to tell if its digital or not. I have my box hooked up to a Dolby Digital receiver, and it has an indicator for digital or analog signal, so that is how I can tell. I notice that the digital channels have much lower volume than the analog channels.

-John

With the DCT-2xxx/3xxx/6xxx boxes, simply tune to a channel *below* 100, and hit the INFO button on your remote. If you see the Dolby logo (i-Guide), you're in an ADS area, and you're watching a digital (not analog) signal. I'm in Prince George's County, MD (Comcast) which is also Motorola-powered and ADS-equipped. (Also, if you have a DCT-3xxx box, you are in an ADS area, as the DCT-3xxx series lacks an analog tuner.)

 

[fayrich]

One of the biggest benefits of digital is HD. You must be upgraded to digital to receive it.