Comcast the Behemoth

Three big Comcast news stories hit the press today.



Comcast Outage Hits Parts Of East Coast

http://consumerist.com/2010/11/comcast-outage-hits-parts-of-east-coast.html

Comcast Demands Fees for Web Movie Viewing

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/211940/level_3_comcast_demands_fees_for_web_movie_viewing.html

Web Giants Join Comcast, NBC Universal Merger Opposition

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/digital-downloads/broadband/e3i377bdb0e9a632025e6089bad500fc8f6

ION TV

I just noticed that ION TV has bought Over The Air channel 16 in Pittsburgh.
Channel 16 was formally a PBS affiliate and more recently airing a Home Shopping Network.
ION "broadcasts a spectrum of high quality programming, with something for everyone in the family."
They typically run a lot of classic & new Christmas Programming in December which should make Nancy happy if they get the station up and running soon.
Currently there is nothing but a dead signal on Channel 16 so I'm guessing their Engineers are surveying the signal and getting the transmitter ready to broadcast 720p HD programming and multiplexing ION's company standard 3 sub-channels instead of the one that was broadcast by WQEX.
I'm assuming they will be channels 16.1, 16.2 & 16.3

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/459634-Ion_to_Buy_WQEX.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_Television

Still Can't Get Rid of Them

Comcast just billed us for November and December with November being marked "past due" and threatening to disconnect our service.
We cancelled them last month and returned their modem in the postage paid box that "they" sent us.
How screwed up can one company be?

SUCCESS!

I rotated my attic antenna about 15 -20 degrees east and now I can receive Channels 22.1 & 22.2. YAY! I'm sure the new 4 port amplifier helped too.
Channels 4.1 & 4.2 signals dropped a small amount but not enough to degrade the digital signal.
Channel 22.1 is the "myTV" affiliate and 22.2 is "The Cool TV" broadcasting music videos much like the old MTV did years ago.
http://www.mypittsburghtv.com/
http://www.thecooltv.com/

Here is the current channel line-up...



North Hills Pittsburgh O.T.A. (over the air) Channel Line-up

2.1 ~ KDKA (CBS affiliate)

4.1 ~ WTAE (ABC affiliate)

4.2 ~ WTAE (THIS TV Network) reruns of vintage movies and TV programs

11.1 ~ WPXI (NBC Network affiliate)

11.2 ~ WPXI (RTV - Retro Television Network) reruns of vintage movies and TV programs

13.1 ~ WQED (main WQED programming / PBS)

13.2 ~ WQED (WQED-DT2 programming / Create Channel)

13.3 ~ WQED (WQED-DT3 programming / Neighborhood Channel)

16.1 ~ WQEX (ShopNBC) A home shopping network

16.2 ~ WQEX (BIZ TV) personal financial planning info

19.1 ~ WPCW (CW network) Formally UPN & WB. Various original & rerun programming.

22.1 ~ WPMY (myTV network) mostly syndicated programming

22.2 ~ The COOL TV ~ all music video lineup

40.1 ~ WPCB (Cornerstone TV) Christian television station

40.2 ~ BDC (Cornerstone TV) Christian television station

53.1 ~ (FOX affiliate)

53.2 ~ (CMT) Country Music Network - music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies

59.1 WBGN (Independent Station) variety of programming - first run syndicated shows

59.2 HSN - Home Shopping Network

59.3 Info-TV - Infomercials

59.4 ~ Universal Sports Network - various Olympic style sports programming

DVR and WPMY Update

I received the DTVPal DVR a couple of days ago. Connecting it up via HDMI was simple and the on-screen guide to set it up was very intuitive. Works like a charm! For anyone using a DVR you know the benefits of using one. Pausing "Live" TV, On-Screen Channel Guide and recording multiple programs while watching another to name just a few.
Here's a sample screen shot of what the On-Screen Program Guide looks like.

Receiving channel 22.1 & 22.2 has been quite a challenge. So far no luck. I did find out a lot about the stations. They share the Ch. 53 WPGH antenna tower but "beam" their signals in different directions. I have no trouble picking up ch. 53 WPGH as their signal is directed North toward my location but ch. 22 WPMY is directed mostly South and West. That probably accounts for my not receiving them but still the antenna array is located only a few miles from my house. I'm going to try to redirect my antenna to point directly at them this afternoon and see if that does the trick. Hopefully I will not lose too much of ch. 4 WTAE signal as that is where it is pointed now.
Check out the the images of the antenna patterns that I found and also the antenna array of WPGH & WPMY. They call it a "field goal" antenna tower. Each station broadcasts from one of the top sections.

That’s Comcastic!

Nancy called and cancelled our Comcast service this morning as our DSL & O.T.A. TV service are both up and running. That’s Comcastic!

They told her that we have had Comcast service since 1989 and were sorry to see us go. I hope they learn something as people drop their service but I doubt it highly.

21 years of paying them for mediocre to bad TV service and at least 12 years of tolerable internet service. Goodbye Comcast!

I know a lot of people that have switched to Verizon FiOS as their technology can be superior but they tend to bundle all of their serves together in an “effort” to save customers money. The bad thing about bundling is that you could easily end up with a monthly bill of $300 or more per month for landline, TV, pay per view movies/events, internet & cell service. Too steep for me! If you want the best with all the latest bells and whistles regardless of price FiOS bundling is probably the way to go though.

The last thing that I need to do is receive and install the new combination amp/splitter and the new DTVPal DVR.

Also, I may need to replace some of the old RG59 coax cables that were installed by Comcast back in 1989. I may be losing too much signal with them and RG6 coax cables (preferably quad shield) are the new standard with much less signal loss on UHF long runs.

For those receiving satellite, O.T.A. or cable digital High Definition TV signals you really should check to see what cable you have installed as RG59 will not support the higher bandwidth used for HD signals and your picture might be degrading.

Full story on that here…

http://www.ehow.com/about_5530887_rg-vs-rg-cable.html