comcast HD

[Rob]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

What is Comcast doing to HD?? I've only seen HD a couple of times before
but my buddy who has a mega home theater just bought an HD set and dumped
DirecTV for comcast. He was raving about the picture. I saw it last night
for the first time and it looked like complete s**t. You could see what
amounted to background static on almost every channel and the images didn't
appear much sharper to me (if any) than regular broadcast television (the
DTV picture I'm used to is much clearer). You couldn't see any fine details
that you'd normally see on a good HD source. Is comcast compressing the
video so much that the result is this poor? I think my buddy was pretty
disappointed that I thought it looked like ass... I think he was mentally
trying to convince himself that dumping DTV and TiVo and spending $3000 more
on his already $25,000 HT was justified. At least he's enjoying the HBO on
demand (that DOES sound cool ).

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Rob" <rob@nospam.com> wrote in message news:NuIXc.45$hq5.28@trndny09...
> What is Comcast doing to HD?? I've only seen HD a couple of times before
> but my buddy who has a mega home theater just bought an HD set and dumped
> DirecTV for comcast. He was raving about the picture. I saw it last
night
> for the first time and it looked like complete s**t. You could see what
> amounted to background static on almost every channel and the images
didn't
> appear much sharper to me (if any) than regular broadcast television (the
> DTV picture I'm used to is much clearer). You couldn't see any fine
details
> that you'd normally see on a good HD source. Is comcast compressing the
> video so much that the result is this poor? I think my buddy was pretty
> disappointed that I thought it looked like ass... I think he was mentally
> trying to convince himself that dumping DTV and TiVo and spending $3000
more
> on his already $25,000 HT was justified. At least he's enjoying the HBO
on
> demand (that DOES sound cool ).

There is no background "static" or snow in digital HD. There is either a
perfect picture or a blank/skipping screen.
There may be a technical problem somewhere.

Comcast's HD here in Richmond looks quite good - especially the INHD and
DiscoveryHD eye-candy stuff.

 

[Rob]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

interesting. it was only in certain places and appeared to be part of the
image rather than the overall screen, so i was attributing it to digital
compression or something else that would only affect certain colors or areas
of the screen.

"Randy Sweeney" <rsweeney1@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:UIOdnbaHX573-7LcRVn-jg@comcast.com...
>
> "Rob" <rob@nospam.com> wrote in message news:NuIXc.45$hq5.28@trndny09...
>> What is Comcast doing to HD?? I've only seen HD a couple of times before
>> but my buddy who has a mega home theater just bought an HD set and dumped
>> DirecTV for comcast. He was raving about the picture. I saw it last
> night
>> for the first time and it looked like complete s**t. You could see what
>> amounted to background static on almost every channel and the images
> didn't
>> appear much sharper to me (if any) than regular broadcast television (the
>> DTV picture I'm used to is much clearer). You couldn't see any fine
> details
>> that you'd normally see on a good HD source. Is comcast compressing the
>> video so much that the result is this poor? I think my buddy was pretty
>> disappointed that I thought it looked like ass... I think he was mentally
>> trying to convince himself that dumping DTV and TiVo and spending $3000
> more
>> on his already $25,000 HT was justified. At least he's enjoying the HBO
> on
>> demand (that DOES sound cool ).
>
> There is no background "static" or snow in digital HD. There is either a
> perfect picture or a blank/skipping screen.
> There may be a technical problem somewhere.
>
> Comcast's HD here in Richmond looks quite good - especially the INHD and
> DiscoveryHD eye-candy stuff.
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Rob" <rob@nospam.com> wrote in message news:2HJXc.1002$qY.128@trndny05...
> interesting. it was only in certain places and appeared to be part of the
> image rather than the overall screen, so i was attributing it to digital
> compression or something else that would only affect certain colors or
areas
> of the screen.

Did it appear to be a blocking or large pixellation kind of artifact or fine
grain "noise"?
Or was it wiggly looking artifacts along sharp lines of contrast?

The pixellation artifacts are indicative of inadequate bandwidth.
The artifacts along lines of contrast are indicative of overcompression.

Fine grain noise, to me, indicates faulty equipment somewhere... in fact,
"snow" at the source end can indeed lead to overcompression and artifacts
since too much of the compression structure is taken trying to digitize and
portray the noise and not enough for the picture.

 

[Rob]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

I take it back, he has Adelphia.

"Rob" <rob@nospam.com> wrote in message news:2HJXc.1002$qY.128@trndny05...
> interesting. it was only in certain places and appeared to be part of the
> image rather than the overall screen, so i was attributing it to digital
> compression or something else that would only affect certain colors or
> areas of the screen.
>
> "Randy Sweeney" <rsweeney1@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:UIOdnbaHX573-7LcRVn-jg@comcast.com...
>>
>> "Rob" <rob@nospam.com> wrote in message news:NuIXc.45$hq5.28@trndny09...
>>> What is Comcast doing to HD?? I've only seen HD a couple of times
>>> before
>>> but my buddy who has a mega home theater just bought an HD set and
>>> dumped
>>> DirecTV for comcast. He was raving about the picture. I saw it last
>> night
>>> for the first time and it looked like complete s**t. You could see what
>>> amounted to background static on almost every channel and the images
>> didn't
>>> appear much sharper to me (if any) than regular broadcast television
>>> (the
>>> DTV picture I'm used to is much clearer). You couldn't see any fine
>> details
>>> that you'd normally see on a good HD source. Is comcast compressing the
>>> video so much that the result is this poor? I think my buddy was pretty
>>> disappointed that I thought it looked like ass... I think he was
>>> mentally
>>> trying to convince himself that dumping DTV and TiVo and spending $3000
>> more
>>> on his already $25,000 HT was justified. At least he's enjoying the HBO
>> on
>>> demand (that DOES sound cool ).
>>
>> There is no background "static" or snow in digital HD. There is either a
>> perfect picture or a blank/skipping screen.
>> There may be a technical problem somewhere.
>>
>> Comcast's HD here in Richmond looks quite good - especially the INHD and
>> DiscoveryHD eye-candy stuff.
>>
>>
>>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

When I hear complaints like this I always wonder if the source and display
are properly connected. AND that the switches are properly set on the
equipment to use those connections. I have seen many set ups where people
were using composite conections and wondering why thnks looks good but not
great!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Why not the most obvious answer? That the TV he bought is junk? Maybe it is a
typical rear projection that looks horrible.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"nixjunk" <torrex6@cs.comnixjunk> wrote in message
news:20040827153704.16562.00002865@mb-m22.news.cs.com...
> Why not the most obvious answer? That the TV he bought is junk? Maybe it
is a
> typical rear projection that looks horrible.

And which RP's have you seen that had a snowy noisy picture?

Incidentally, my RP, even though it only has 7" tubes, looks fabulous.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Rob wrote:
> What is Comcast doing to HD?? I've only seen HD a couple of times
> before but my buddy who has a mega home theater just bought an HD set
> and dumped DirecTV for comcast. He was raving about the picture. I
> saw it last night for the first time and it looked like complete
> s**t. You could see what amounted to background static on almost
> every channel and the images didn't appear much sharper to me (if
> any) than regular broadcast television (the DTV picture I'm used to
> is much clearer). You couldn't see any fine details that you'd
> normally see on a good HD source. Is comcast compressing the video
> so much that the result is this poor? I think my buddy was pretty
> disappointed that I thought it looked like ass... I think he was
> mentally trying to convince himself that dumping DTV and TiVo and
> spending $3000 more on his already $25,000 HT was justified. At
> least he's enjoying the HBO on demand (that DOES sound cool ).

Looks good on my set. You sure you weren't looking as SD content?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

nixjunk wrote:
> Why not the most obvious answer? That the TV he bought is junk? Maybe
> it is a typical rear projection that looks horrible.

Hmm, which RPTVs have you been looking at. Mine looks great with HD
material.....

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Randy Sweeney" <rsweeney1@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:WtudnX0KXd9qVrLcRVn-tw@comcast.com...
>
> "nixjunk" <torrex6@cs.comnixjunk> wrote in message
> news:20040827153704.16562.00002865@mb-m22.news.cs.com...
> > Why not the most obvious answer? That the TV he bought is junk? Maybe it
> is a
> > typical rear projection that looks horrible.
>
> And which RP's have you seen that had a snowy noisy picture?
>
> Incidentally, my RP, even though it only has 7" tubes, looks fabulous.
>

I've seen some D*** good RPs. They are like any other other class of
display. If some dork doesn't know how to set it up, it will look like
excrement.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

L Alpert <alpertl@xxcomcast.net> wrote:
}>
}> One other thing in the SF Bay area Channel 4 KRON has been
}> rebroadcasting HDnet content on the HD channel which is great since

Yup. 704 on comcast.


} I am in the East Bay as well, and Comcast/OTA picture quality is (to me) is
} indistinguishable. Both work quite well (55" Mits RPTV).

} My problem at first with Comcast was my internal wiring. I re-routed some
} of it in the crawl space, and it has been solid for the past year. I was
} originally getting a lot of blocking, picture and sound hangs from every few
} seconds to every few minutes, which made it difficult to watch anything.


Comcast HD does look good when it works. CBS has been having some
problems the last week (SF Bay Area at least), but it looked great all
last spring.

I also had problems with my internal wiring causing hangs and blocking.
Since comcast uses the same frequencies in it's cable system that are
also used for broadcasting, pagers, two-way radios, etc. it is
important that all the cables and connectors are good at shielding out
signals from outside. The problem we had was from outside signals
getting into the cable and causing interference. I upgraded all the
cables to high quality RG-6 with a good braided ground and good
connectors and my problems went away.

--

Frank Ball frankb@sonic.net

 

[fred]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 15:13:33 GMT, "L Alpert" <alpertl@xxcomcast.net>
wrote:


>
>I am in the East Bay as well, and Comcast/OTA picture quality is (to me) is
>indistinguishable. Both work quite well (55" Mits RPTV).
>
>My problem at first with Comcast was my internal wiring. I re-routed some
>of it in the crawl space, and it has been solid for the past year. I was
>originally getting a lot of blocking, picture and sound hangs from every few
>seconds to every few minutes, which made it difficult to watch anything.
>
>Which inputs are you using? Have you tried switching the Direct TV and
>Comcast inputs to see if the problem is specific to an input? Maybe a cable
>grounding problem?
>




Same inputs I have a switcher that alows me to use the same inputs
for both STBs. My picture was rock solid up untill this past week or
so.

Its not just the video. I have been having problems with the High
speed internet also. The signal has been dropping out too. The cable
modem goes off line and the activity light stops blinking and then the
modem cycles back on. It is loss of signal, pure and simple.

I was online with Comcast HD the first day they rolled it out to the
public in my area. I was probably one of the first ones in the area
set up. The signal was fine, but if you read all of my response even
the Comcast reps doing the set up agreed that The DirecTv HD picture
looked better.

Fred

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Are you sure he hooked up the TV correctly? Is he watching the HD
channels via channel 3? Does he use the component in or the DVI port?
I have used comcast HD for almost two years. Never seen that kind of
problem.

"Rob" <rob@nospam.com> wrote in message news:<NuIXc.45$hq5.28@trndny09>...
> What is Comcast doing to HD?? I've only seen HD a couple of times before
> but my buddy who has a mega home theater just bought an HD set and dumped
> DirecTV for comcast. He was raving about the picture. I saw it last night
> for the first time and it looked like complete s**t. You could see what
> amounted to background static on almost every channel and the images didn't
> appear much sharper to me (if any) than regular broadcast television (the
> DTV picture I'm used to is much clearer). You couldn't see any fine details
> that you'd normally see on a good HD source. Is comcast compressing the
> video so much that the result is this poor? I think my buddy was pretty
> disappointed that I thought it looked like ass... I think he was mentally
> trying to convince himself that dumping DTV and TiVo and spending $3000 more
> on his already $25,000 HT was justified. At least he's enjoying the HBO on
> demand (that DOES sound cool ).

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Caloonese" <caloonese@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ee67c74a.0409011242.679eff05@posting.google.com...
> Are you sure he hooked up the TV correctly? Is he watching the HD
> channels via channel 3? Does he use the component in or the DVI port?
> I have used comcast HD for almost two years. Never seen that kind of
> problem.
>
> "Rob" <rob@nospam.com> wrote in message news:<NuIXc.45$hq5.28@trndny09>...
> > What is Comcast doing to HD?? I've only seen HD a couple of times
before
> > but my buddy who has a mega home theater just bought an HD set and
dumped
> > DirecTV for comcast. He was raving about the picture. I saw it last
night
> > for the first time and it looked like complete s**t. You could see what
> > amounted to background static on almost every channel and the images
didn't
> > appear much sharper to me (if any) than regular broadcast television
(the
> > DTV picture I'm used to is much clearer). You couldn't see any fine
details
> > that you'd normally see on a good HD source. Is comcast compressing the
> > video so much that the result is this poor? I think my buddy was pretty
> > disappointed that I thought it looked like ass... I think he was
mentally
> > trying to convince himself that dumping DTV and TiVo and spending $3000
more
> > on his already $25,000 HT was justified. At least he's enjoying the HBO
on
> > demand (that DOES sound cool ).

There are only 5 HD channels on Comcast then 7 OTA channels that are
primarily broadcasting SD. The majority are digital channels (SD). When
you display them on a HD TV you see what amounts to a slight texture in the
background. This isn't the same as snow or noise. That's what he is
talking about. The texture doesn't move or change with picture. I think of
it as a fine grid that probably is there because of the frame buffer
conversion of the picture from analog to digital at the source.

We have a OTA station, ABC network I think, that has started a 24 hour news
channel on one of their sub channels. There is a faint black spot that is
always in the center of the picture. The spot is probably a dead memory
cell in the frame buffer.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Here in Michigan we have been experiencing a lot of compatibility problems
with Comcast supplied Motorola boxes and most of the major television
brands. Strange things like incompability composite cable connection
messages, dropped and pixalated HD station materials, etc. Sometimes
changing to another cable box from Comcast resolved the symptom, sometimes
not.
I also would be interested in just how the components are interconnected.
Seen very good HDTV with both DVI and Component interconnect, marginal with
Composite and lousy via RF.
"Jeff Rigby" <jeffg212@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:l9WdnXFGMJ5XjarcRVn-gw@comcast.com...
>
> "Caloonese" <caloonese@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:ee67c74a.0409011242.679eff05@posting.google.com...
>> Are you sure he hooked up the TV correctly? Is he watching the HD
>> channels via channel 3? Does he use the component in or the DVI port?
>> I have used comcast HD for almost two years. Never seen that kind of
>> problem.
>>
>> "Rob" <rob@nospam.com> wrote in message
>> news:<NuIXc.45$hq5.28@trndny09>...
>> > What is Comcast doing to HD?? I've only seen HD a couple of times
> before
>> > but my buddy who has a mega home theater just bought an HD set and
> dumped
>> > DirecTV for comcast. He was raving about the picture. I saw it last
> night
>> > for the first time and it looked like complete s**t. You could see
>> > what
>> > amounted to background static on almost every channel and the images
> didn't
>> > appear much sharper to me (if any) than regular broadcast television
> (the
>> > DTV picture I'm used to is much clearer). You couldn't see any fine
> details
>> > that you'd normally see on a good HD source. Is comcast compressing
>> > the
>> > video so much that the result is this poor? I think my buddy was
>> > pretty
>> > disappointed that I thought it looked like ass... I think he was
> mentally
>> > trying to convince himself that dumping DTV and TiVo and spending $3000
> more
>> > on his already $25,000 HT was justified. At least he's enjoying the
>> > HBO
> on
>> > demand (that DOES sound cool ).
>
> There are only 5 HD channels on Comcast then 7 OTA channels that are
> primarily broadcasting SD. The majority are digital channels (SD). When
> you display them on a HD TV you see what amounts to a slight texture in
> the
> background. This isn't the same as snow or noise. That's what he is
> talking about. The texture doesn't move or change with picture. I think
> of
> it as a fine grid that probably is there because of the frame buffer
> conversion of the picture from analog to digital at the source.
>
> We have a OTA station, ABC network I think, that has started a 24 hour
> news
> channel on one of their sub channels. There is a faint black spot that is
> always in the center of the picture. The spot is probably a dead memory
> cell in the frame buffer.
>
>