Comcast Minneapolis goes all digital

[Mr Tony]

Today Comcast in Minneapolis and the Western suburbs (the old Time Warner areas) went 100% digital today. They turned off the analog channels that were in lifeline (everything above lifeline required a box for a couple years now). They had warning scrolls on the analog version of WGN, C-Span, QVC, and HSN for a few weeks now. Channel 2 has a slate about upgrading if you can see this

The QAM channels are still there including the nets in HD so thats good.

 

[Mr Tony]

hmmm....with the changeover lifeline QAM added a few channels (well made them available to QAM...formerly scrambled)

43-97 HSN HD
46-2 TBS HD
63-3 QVC HD

so at least here (SW Mpls burbs) all lifeline that is in HD is in QAM except CNN (formerly analog 3 now 115-50 QAM)

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

Wow, theres areas that still had analog? I thought aside analog only systems all the upgrades were done.

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[Teehar]

Wow, theres areas that still had analog? I thought aside analog only systems all the upgrades were done.

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Still lots of analog on Charter here.

 

[Mr Tony]

Wow, theres areas that still had analog? I thought aside analog only systems all the upgrades were done.

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nope. Comcast moved everything above lifeline to require a box about 2 years ago. The rest (2-23, 96 & 99) just had analog dropped (they've been QAM for a while now)

My buddy lives in a Charter territory and lifeline (again 2-23 + a few in the 80s) there alot is analog...but in lifeline some are digital...as example lifeline (there are some other channels but they are above 100). Bold is digital
2 KCCO - CBS
3 Home Shopping Network
4 KXJB - CBS
5 KSAX - ABC
6 WDAY - ABC
7 QVC
8 Local Access
9 KCPM - MyTV
10 KWCM - PBS
11 KVLY - NBC
12 KVRR - FOX
13 KFME - PBS
14 Charter Main Street
18 P.E.G. (Access)
21 WGN America -
22 Inspirational Network
23 WDAY 2 - CW
24 Trinity Broadcasting/TBN
84 CSPAN
85 CSPAN2
86 CSPAN3
87 Charter Local Programming
94 ION Television

They also are randomly changing some channels to digital that are in "expanded" cable

 

[mattwj2005]

I heard that the ClearQAM was going away in Minneapolis. Is that true?

Thanks,

Matt

 

[Mr Tony]

not that I've heard. The last document I read said that if you had an analog TV still you needed a DTA even for lifeline. Digital TV's would not be affected

edit: found it
It says "QAM tuner TVs will continue to receive Limited Basic channels: " and then lists them off.

Now note the FCC has given cable companies the option to scramble the lifeline stuff too

 

[jegrant]

I really want to know what the plan is when they scramble what is now QAM. I own a QAM PVR and a QAM TV, so it would be nice to continue to have digital functionality on these devices.

 

[Mr Tony]

I assume it depends on market but here in Minneapolis at least they wont be doing anything to lifeline other than what they already did and drop analog

 

[Mr Tony]

posted here in St Paul Pioneer Press in regards to the whole "all digital conversion".....from Comcast rep
http://blogs.twincities.com/yourtec...-one-thing-my-followers-another-theyre-right/

No immediate action is necessary for Comcast Basic Cable customers using an HDTV set featuring a digital QAM tuner. These customers will continue to have access to all Basic Cable channels – including HD broadcast stations on our lineup. We will have an HD DTA solution in place before any change is implemented that could potentially impact their service, and will communicate with customers as to its availability. No timeframe has yet been determined.

The communication that was originally sent to customers addressed those subscribers using TVs with older-style analog tuners. These customers will indeed lose access to the Basic Cable tier if they don't have a DTA connected to their television prior to the digital-only transition date.

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

wow, out here in the northeast of PA our dtas are coax out only... no such creature as an hd dta. Also no such package as HD Limited Basic without paying 9.95 for a full blown HD Digital box in addition to the fee for limited basic. We are also currently 100% digital, no warning messages, just snow on analog. A qam tv will still pick up about 30 channels, but that is not advertised as "intended to happen" and is generally frowned upon by comcast in this area. all locals come in sd and hd on qam, and a few other channels that arnt really worth watching.

Like i said in my post a few back, when i was working out of system in a 'vacation town' called eagle's mere pa (it snowed there last april when it was 60degrees not even 30 miles away lol) that place was analog only, and my first time doing installs for a system that had no digital support at all. (easy as hell, but still strange) had a few people cancel saying what do you mean i cant have hd. Sorry comcast doesnt support it in this area lol. I have worked for them back when you had your basic 70 in analog however, so ive been doing this a while, its just crazy to see how spread out comcast really is with their "Xfinity upgrade" or "digital conversion" across the country. And hell I would love to work with the X1 stuff which is already being phased out in certain markets for x3.....

 

[Mr Tony]

wow, out here in the northeast of PA our dtas are coax out only... no such creature as an hd dta.

nothing here yet either...its that stupid DTA

We are also currently 100% digital, no warning messages, just snow on analog. A qam tv will still pick up about 30 channels, but that is not advertised as "intended to happen" and is generally frowned upon by comcast in this area. all locals come in sd and hd on qam, and a few other channels that arnt really worth watching.

at least on our lifeline there is TBS, CNN & WGN too

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

Yea.. we dont have a "lifeline package out here" the channels obviously work, but were not suppsed to install anything without comcast hardware. I know tbs is not qam however. Not sure on the others, ill need to do a scan in my living room later.

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[Mr Tony]

I assume TBS in QAM is market specific. Here its part of lifeline (on 7) so its still in QAM on 115-50. I guess Comcast calls it "limited basic" now
The HD version popped up when they did the changeover

What I find ironic is in the channel list they show the HD versions as part of limited basic yet you can't get a HD converter for it (they only offer a converter box or the DTA)
You dont get the music channels with QAM

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

In my market if you want hd with limited basic (or lifeline I guess) you can lease an hd converter for 9.99 in addition to the 19.99 for ltd basic. And for 29.99 you can get a promo for starter at least. Usually won't include hd howevr.

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[twizt3dsist3r]

I'll need to look up a channel guide for my area, your ltd basic has a lot more channels than mine. Are you by chance an x1 market? And are you guys Motorola or scientific atlanta based?

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[Mr Tony]

I'll need to look up a channel guide for my area, your ltd basic has a lot more channels than mine. Are you by chance an x1 market? And are you guys Motorola or scientific atlanta based?

I know the boxes are SA but dont know if what a X1 market is

Our limited basic is just locals + subchannels + a few extra channels