[ale] OT: Comcast and digital TV

[Sean C. McCord]

On Thu, Apr 02, 2009 at 08:26:57AM -0400, Jim Kinney wrote:
>On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 7:54 AM, Geoffrey <lists at serioustechnology.com> wrote:
>> Okay, so I'm just plain sick and tired of Comcasts monopolistic
>> attitude.  As we move to the digital TV cut over date I've been told a
>> couple of things that they don't tell you in their slick TV commercials.
>>
>> 1. Fact: Although they say you don't need to do anything if you
>> currently have analog cable service, you will lose channels as some
>> stations decide unilaterally to stop sending an analog signal.  This has
>> already happened to me with the History channel and the TV guide channel.
>
>LIE! The signal delivery method of the channel to Comcast has NOTHING
>to do with their signal delivery method to you. Many (if not most) of
>the feeds to Comcast are and have been digital for a long time. It
>does save bandwidth. We've all seen the screen freeze and pixelate on
>analog cable tv.

Absolutely correct.  To provide testimonial evidence rather than
simply anecdotal evidence to this, I can say that the equipment the
MSOs use to receive the satellite signals is totally distinct and
separate from the broadcast equipment for insertion into the plant
(the cable network).  They can mix, match, modify, and mingle the
signals all they want.

>Comcast is dropping channels to make the analog format as unattractive
>as possible.

While I love to ascribe ill intent to big monopolies whenever
possible, this has far more to do with your original comment than
analog slant.  On the limited spectrum of the cable, in order to offer
more bandwidth to other services (such as internet, phone, and HD
channels), they want to squeeze out as much of the inefficient analog
signalling as possible.  With modern QAM and QPSK modulators for
digital television, you can (if the screen diffs are low enough) get
as much as 10 and 15 digital channels to one analog channel.
>>
>> 2. Fact or Fiction??? If you want to go digital, you MUST rent digital
>> converter boxes from Comcast.  The first one is free, $6 per box after
>> that.  You can not buy them anywhere.  I don't quite understand this.  I
>> do have one digital/analog TV in my house and I do currently pick up a
>> smattering of channels when I go to the digital tuner.
>
>TRUE :-(  They have a monopoly (at the moment) on converters. And they
>(ab)use that position to it's fullest extent.
>
>Why is there no such device as a whole-house digital to analog
>converter? Take _ALL_ the digital feeds and split them out to analog
>signals and pump them down the house wire.
>
>Because if there were, one house gets digital and runs a cable to the
>other houses around them for analog and they split the bill. That
>would break the monopoly. Bummer.
>
>Part B: The digital box provide an upstream signal that indicates
>which channel is in use. It also provides a direct way to disconnect
>without a truck roll.

It's worse than that, actually.  All DTV boxes (of which there are
basically only two manufacturers: Sci-Atl/Cisco and GI/Motorola) have
encryption mechnisms built into them.  I'm under NDA from Sci-Atl for
the particular methods, but this should give you an idea:

http://www.freshpatents.com/System-and-method-for-dynamically-allocating-stream-identifiers-in-a-multi-encryption-transport-stream-dt20071115ptan20070263860.php

>> Anyone help me out on #2?  I've only got 3 people in my home, but for
>> convenience, I've got 7 tv receivers (two computers, 5 TVs).  I'm not
>> about to increase my already inflated monthly bill by 65% to simply
>> retain those lost channels.
>>
>> I'm seriously considering digital antennas or satellite.

You will still need a converter/tuner for each television, but at
least with those, you can buy your own boxes.

They were going to have card-based key units for cable back a few
years ago like they have for satellite, so you can use generic or
customer-supplied boxes, but to my knowledge (which is admittedly out
of date), these are not in general availability.

--
Sean C. McCord
scmlist at cycoresys.com