Cox Cables now has Digital Simulcast of analog channels

[ScottChez]

Cox Cables now has Digital Simulcast of analog channels in the Orange County California Market.

I have read may other threads out there on other boards.

Just wondering if anyone here has this yet with Cox cable, Im sure other markets have started there upgrades.

That last word I heard is Orange Count Cox now has About 35 of there Analog 1-70 channels now also in digital simulcast.

It may be hard to tell when they switch becuase they just remap the channel to the 700 or 800 equivilent digital simulcast channel.

Other rumors out there say they plan to go
================================
100% digital to each neighboor hood Sub head end and then do the Analogs to the houses for the next 1-3 years for those with out Cable boxes.

By doing 100% all digital to the neighborhoods they will have more room for more HD TV channesl.


If you have Cox and a QAM 256 tuner please scan for the new digital simul channesl and report back

 

[Zookster]

I'm hearing rumors on the hdtv.forsandiego.com board that Cox San Diego will launch digital simulcasts sometime this month, and it does indeed look like some test channels are already set up as I can now get the analog Disney channel in digital. I'm pretty excited about the prospect myself as PQ on cable analog channels have always been a pet peeve of mine after having had satellite for 3 years.

 

[ScottChez]

Emails sent from Cox are now saying Omaha Ne should have some Digital Simulcast done in May.

I think Orange County, CA Cox cable is almost all done.

This means 100% all digital, and the analog channels still work on the kids TV which is only cable ready (channels 1-80).

 

[Zookster]

April has come and gone and still no sign of digital simulcasting on Cox in San Diego. It looks like the rumor was just that.

 

[electrofreak66]

Yes, I noticed cox here in Phoenix, AZ shows signs of simulcasting. Channels 802-899 are listed in the guide are identical to the respective analog channels 2-99. No guide information are available on the new channels yet and I am unable to tune to them at this time. It says I am unauthorized. Hopefully soon they will allow at least the local channels, which naturally come in the worst on analog.

Update: half of the local channels are now in digital! That didn't take long...

 

[bobj2004]

Orange County, CA Cox is now all done.

They are 100% Digital Simulcasting all Major Channels.

Same quality as Dish and Direct TV now.

 

[godzilla1964]

Just talk to a Cox Tech who was checking my internet connection. The Tech said Cox will be "Digital Simulcasting all Major Channels" in the Oklahoma City area on 30 Jun 06. Can't wait.

 

[ScottChez]

Word is that while they are doing the conversion to Digital Simulcasting the Encryption is turned off for most of the Preimium all of the Video on Demand and even some of the pay channels.

This mean that if you have a HDTV with a QAM 256 Tuner or Cable Card Slot (even if its empty) you can do a scan to get lots of free channels.
The channel mapping may change daily as the move things around to make room for the the conversion so you may have to rescan nightly.

The best time to scan is at night while customers are using Video on Demand.

 

[Zookster]

That's great to know. BTW, TimeWarner in San Diego just completed their upgrade to digital simulcasting, but the same article in the newspaper mentioned that Cox (where I live) won't be ready until the end of the year. I had recently emailed Cox to ask when it's going to happen, but still no response. Guess I should've contacted their PR rather than tech dept.

 

[ScottChez]

We got an update from Cox in Omaha. 100% Digital Simulcasting to be done by the end of July now.

Some work has already started.

If its like Orange County, CA they switch people over to Digital Simulcast (the Analog channel to the new Digital channel) about 10 Channels at a time. Kind of a phased roll out and the Customer will not know when they are switched (except for pic quality change).

 

[Zookster]

Cox San Diego is phasing in digital simulcasting one neighborhood at a time over the past 4-6 weeks, going west to east apparently. I finally got it last week and I'm somewhere in the middle.

 

[bcushman]

I had noticed a great improvement in PQ with Cox here (RI). I had a technician over to replace a box and asked him about the change over to digital. He verified that the change had taken place. The PQ is better than what I was getting with DirecTV.